Community cleaning up the hay flats

May 7, 2006

By DAWN DE BUSK

Frontiersman

WASILLA - An exuberant, pale-yellow Labrador-mix puppy zipped down a muddy pathway ahead of its owners. Nine-year-old Zach Neubauer pushed a green wagon filled with sunshine-yellow trash bags as his dad Bob Neubauer pulled. A couple of rake handles extended over one side of the wagon, in addition to a handmade tool - a stick with a nail at the end to pick up garbage without bending over.

Neubauer and his son spent Saturday morning removing trash from the Palmer Hay Flats State Refuge, near the Knik River Bridge and off the Glenn Highway.

&#8220This is more like play than work for us. Having the puppy, Nanook, along made it more pleasant. My son said he got ‘a warm, fuzzy feeling,' and that made my day,” Bob Neubauer said. &#8220Usually, when we finish the Cottonwood Creek Cleanup, he talks about it for a long time.”

Typically, the nonprofit group, Alaskans for Palmer Hay Flats, holds a community cleanup at both the Knik River Access and the Cottonwood Creek trailhead off Fairview Loop Road, on the same day in mid-May. However, Saturday about a dozen members got together to spruce up the area before a planned May 13 walkabout around Reflections Lake, according to APH chair Kris Abshire.

That event will provide people with an opportunity to explore Reflections Lake, in addition to viewing the convergence of the Matanuska and Knik rivers, and some spectacular mountain ranges, according to R.K. Butts, who led the walk last year. He suggested people wear knee-high, waterproof boots for those trips, although sneakers will be suitable for circling the lake along the shoreline.

&#8220So many people who live in Wasilla don't even know Reflections Lake exists, and they drive by it every day on the Glenn Highway,” Butts said.

On Saturday, shell casings and spent bullets filled up an entire bag of trash gathered from the lake's shoreline, according to Wasilla resident David Hopper.

Participants collected about 12 trash bags along the road access and two tunnels traveling under the Glenn Highway.

&#8220It was really disgusting. I must have picked up about 1,000 beer bottles and beer cans. Many of those were in the tunnel,” Abshire said. &#8220I just don't get it. Hello? You drank it. It's empty. It doesn't weigh much. Why don't you just take it home and throw it away?”

Saturday's cleanup could be called the &#8220warm up” before the annual Alaskans for Palmer Hay Flats Community Cleanup on May 20. There are at least 20 abandoned freezers at the Cottonwood Creek site, according to Butts.

&#8220This is an incredible example of community stewardship. People are stepping up to take the refuge back from the abusers,” Abshire said.

For future events, such as the Reflections Lake walkabout on May 13 and a tentative small boat day, the Alaska State Department of Fish and Game will foot the bill for a Port-A-Potty, Abshire said.

The Glenn Highway Scenic Byways' comprehensive plan has put better public access to the refuge higher on the priority list. The plan calls for Reflections Lake signs on the Glenn Highway and interpretive panels by the lake, Abshire said. Public restrooms and a covered pavilion would be constructed later, she said.

Recently, Valley resident Harriet Richard's estate left an endowment to the nonprofit group, Abshire said, and part of that money will be used for educational purposes. She'd like to see a science center created near the Cottonwood Creek trailhead.

&#8220It's a living laboratory for kids,” she said.

Zach Neubauer, who lives near the Cottonwood Creek public access to the hay flats, said picking up garbage with his dad was a good way to spend his Saturday.

&#8220You help the environment and the community at the same time,” he said.

Contact Dawn De Busk at 352-2252, or dawn.debusk@frontiersman.com.