Borough develops cultural plan for Port MacKenzie

July 1, 2007

By Will Elliott / Frontiersman

MAT-SU - The Matanuska-Susitna Borough's Cultural Resources Section is partnering with the community this summer to draft a plan for the management of historical resources in the Port MacKenzie area. With big changes to that rural landscape promised by the existing port, and a prison, rail spur and Knik Arm Crossing expected in the future, the Borough is moving to catalogue historical resources there and plan for their future management.

Those resources include mining trails, native sites, old homesteads and other features of the landscape with a place in Mat-Su Valley history, said Fran Seager-Boss, cultural resource specialist at the Borough's Planning Division.

At this point, the Borough is taking a census of what's out there, Seager-Boss said. Once the Borough knows what historic resources are in the area, officials can figure out how to manage them. That management could include marking significant rights-of-way with a plaque or interpretive display, restoring historic buildings or setting aside native village sites for further study.

&#8220Communities have a better idea of what's in their own back yard than we do,” Seager-Boss said. With that in mind, the Borough is convening focus groups, soliciting public comment and making presentations to organizations like the Wasilla City Council and Knik Tribal Council. A Historic Preservation Commission board also advises the Borough.

The goal is to hear back from the community about what resources are out there and what people want the Borough to do with them, Seager-Boss said. Sometimes, the answer is at odds with the Cultural Resource Section's mission.

&#8220‘Why do you want to save that old building? It wasn't supposed to last this long in the first place.' That's one comment we've received,” she said.

But the majority of people who have talked to the Borough want to see more restoration, Seager-Boss said.

Independence Mine State Historical Park at Hatcher Pass is a prominent example of how restoration can turn a deteriorating site into a tourist destination. Alaska State Parks and volunteer organizations have long worked to stabilize and restore the mining buildings there and provide interpretive displays throughout the park.

In the Point MacKenzie area, many early homesteaders were in the freighting business, moving material from the point up to the mines in Hatcher Pass and elsewhere in the Talkeetnas. Knik-Goose Bay Road follows one such route, and an interpretive display on the Palmer-Wasilla Highway near Knik road memorializes those freighters. Earlier, wealthy upper Cook Inlet tribes lived in the area and traded with Russian fur trappers.

Wasilla resident Kelly Griffin urged the Borough to protect the significance of those trails. Griffin sits on a focus group the Borough is consulting made up of Knik, Fairview and Point MacKenzie residents. She suggested setting the land aside so the trails will remain trails that current users can still enjoy while adding more interpretive displays to the area.

Those displays - usually a panel set between two posts with text and pictures about the area - help residents take ownership of their home turf, Seager-Boss said. Given the Valley's rich history, people of diverse backgrounds can call that turf home - whether longtime Alaskans, out-of-state newcomers, Russian immigrants coming to a land their country once owned, or Alaska Natives trying to keep their cultures alive.

Keeping history alive is also important to Wasilla businesses, Seager-Boss said. Tour buses disgorge passengers into Talkeetna daily and the Iditarod Trail Headquarters on Knik Road is another popular destination.

&#8220Cultural tourism is growing,” Seager-Boss said. &#8220If we don't have anything tangible [to offer tourists], they'll move on,” Seager-Boss said.

Kallen Newcomb, administrative assistant at the Wasilla Chamber of Commerce, agrees.

&#8220We as a chamber and our board and membership have been trying really hard to make the Mat-Su a destination,” she said. &#8220And not just for the bathrooms at Carrs.”

Tour buses disgorge passengers there in the summer months to use the facilities.

Jill Bruley, membership director at the chamber, said the impact from cultural tourism is significant in Wasilla and the Borough. Nine of 10 visitors who stop by the chamber in the summer months end up visiting the Independence Mine in Hatcher Pass. The chamber is 100 percent behind efforts to showcase the Valley's cultural resources.

&#8220Tourism is the heartbeat of Wasilla and the Borough,” Bruley said. &#8220It's money that's just waiting for us.”

To comment on the Borough's efforts or alert them to cultural resources in your area, call the Borough's Cultural Resources Section at 745-9859. The Section's next focus group regarding the Point MacKenzie area will be held July 19 from 6:30 to 8:30 or 9 p.m. at Teeland's Restaurant in Wasilla.

Contact Will Elliott at 352-2252 or will.elliott@frontiersman.com.