August 17, 2007

By Hannah Guillaume

Frontiersman BUTTE - Recreation seekers at the Knik River say they're returning to its outdoor splendor since Alaska State Troopers and natural resources joined forces to combat crime in the area.

Don Shields of Chugiak said he's ridden horses, ATVs and air boats around the shores of the Knik River since the 1970s and watched the area progressively deteriorate. He quit riding his Tennessee walking horses there years ago because of the high amounts of ATV traffic.

On a recent weekday, Shields was with friends on four-wheelers at the Sullivan Road parking area about a mile from the Knik River Bridge on the Old Glenn Highway. He said he started coming back to the Knik River Public Use Area because traffic is lessening and crimes seem to be less frequent.

“Using the area is one thing, abusing it is another,” Shields said while pointing out trash lying around garbage cans in the parking lot donated by Earl Lackey, president of the Butte Alaska Raceway Park. “Common courtesy, I think, that's the biggest fallacy out here. There's a lack of common courtesy and politeness.”

Crime and abuse of the Knik River Public Use Area, a 200,000-acre plot of state-owned land stretching from the Knik Bridge to the Knik Glacier, threatened to close the recreation area until summer 2006, when former Gov. Frank Murkowski set the land aside. Funding to protect the land was awarded by the Legislature and included allotments for the Alaska Department of Natural Resources to pay Alaska State Troopers overtime for additional law enforcement.

Dave Griffin, natural resource specialist for the Southcentral Region Land Office's Division of Mine, Land and Water for the Alaska Department of Natural Resources, said the partnership is slowly making a difference.

“It gives protection,” he said. “It's a popular place to come because it's so close to Anchorage and the Valley.”

Car burning and unauthorized target shooting are still major problems that generate constant complaints from area residents and recreation users, Griffin said.

Trooper Lt. Tory Oleck said the Legislature appropriated $180,000 a year for law enforcement. Of that, $20,000 is used to reimburse troopers working voluntary overtime in the Knik River Public Use Area. This month, troopers performing off-road patrols have worked at least 26 hours of overtime. Troopers worked 56 hours of overtime in July, and a side-by-side four-wheeler is being purchased to help troopers transport prisoners out of the area.

“We've had a very positive response from the public,” Oleck said of the increased patrols. “It's a much more user friendly place.”

On Aug. 4, troopers reported a car burning near Jim Creek in the Knik River Public Use Access Area. According to reports a white male drove a red truck to the pavilion area of the Sullivan Road parking lot, got out of the truck, poured gasoline over it and set it on fire. He was reported leaving the scene in a Jeep Wrangler.

Without continuos coverage, it's hard for troopers to stop all bad acts from happening, Oleck said. Troopers and DNR are discussing ways to install cameras that can't be destroyed or vandalized.

Griffin said DNR has a $10,000 budget set up to replace signs, remove cars and protect the land. Removing a burnt car can cost $150 to $200 and at least one such vehicle shows up each week. Replacing a sign can cost up to $200.

The Mat-Su Borough owns land users cross to access the state-owned land, he said. Other properties, including Bureau of Land Management, Eklutna native corporation, private and Alaska Mental Health Trust lands, are also in the area.

All these groups need to work together with the community in the Butte to prevent future crimes, Griffin said. A Knik River Public Use Area management plan is being drafted with input from all of those groups. It is scheduled for completion in spring or early summer of 2008.

The plan divides the area into units - depending on topography and public use - with separate objectives for management that could include laws for accessing the area, target shooting, public safety, natural resource and cultural protection.

“The one thing that everyone out here can agree on is that they're tired of trash and the abandonment of cars,” Griffin said. “Some people don't feel safe due to those. We're working with what we can at the moment.”

Griffin said he believes the area will be free of burnt cars and reckless shooting in five years.

Shields, the ATV rider from Chugiak, said limiting the types of recreation users can experience in the area is something he doesn't want to see done, but understands the need for law enforcement for him to use the area safely.