Anchorage to pilot free woodlots this year to speed wildfire mitigation after windstorms, beetle kill

Solid Waste Services said the municipality will pilot free woodlot access at both the Anchorage Regional Landfill and the central South-Central site in 2025 to encourage residents to remove storm-damaged and beetle-killed wood.

The pilot was announced during a March committee briefing of the Assembly Enterprise and Utility Oversight Committee. Kelly Toth, director of Solid Waste Services, said the city and the Anchorage Fire Department will issue a joint press release and that the move is intended to reduce wildfire fuel after recent windstorms and beetle-kill damage.

The pilot follows a 2024 soft opening at a new central woodlot near the old central transfer station. “This isn’t gonna be always free, but this year because of the windstorms and because of the beetle kill, we wanna really make a dent in making wildfire mitigation a real thing,” Kelly Toth said. Toth said staff recorded about 1,400 loads of wood and brush from June through October 2024 when the central site was open three days a week. Staff time for last year’s effort was recorded as about 455 hours.

Toth outlined the program’s finances: the public was charged $20 per load last year (an $18 refuse fee plus a $2 recycling surcharge), and the recycling surcharge subsidized diversion efforts. Toth said a wildfire grant from the Anchorage Fire Department helped close much of the gap between revenue and operating expense; she said the remaining difference was covered by Solid Waste Services’ equity.

Under the announced pilot schedule, the landfill woodlot will become free to Anchorage residents beginning March 29 and run through Sept. 30, operating Monday through Saturday. The central woodlot is planned to open May 1; staff said they hope to mobilize earlier if staffing allows. Staff emphasized that the sites are intended for wildfire mitigation materials only and that building lumber or materials with screws or nails will be prohibited and will be refused at the gate.

Committee members asked how the 2025 operating costs will be covered. Toth said the fire department will provide some wildfire mitigation funding and that part of the subsidy comes from the existing $2 recycling fee charged on municipal refuse disposals. She said other costs will come from Solid Waste Services’ operating equity.

Members also pressed staff on related safety and diversion work. Committee members raised concerns about batteries and other hazardous items causing fires when mixed with wood piles; Toth said household hazardous waste facilities at the landfill central transfer station and the Girdwood Transfer Station are set up to accept batteries and store them safely for disposal, and that the department will rely on periodic collection events rather than unsupervised, unmanned drop-off buckets.

The department said other steps are planned to reduce landfill airspace use: an appropriation for a new shredder is in place and staff will pilot aerated/static hot piles for composting so some wood material can be reused rather than landfilled.

The committee closed the woodlot item after members asked that signage and outreach clearly state the restriction against lumber and fasteners. Toth said staff will make the prohibition clear so residents are not turned away unexpectedly.

A joint press release and additional outreach were planned ahead of the free-period openings.