Finger Lake rec site to close July 15

By Howard Delo

For the Frontiersman

MAT-SU — Alaska State Parks has announced the total closure of the Finger Lake State Recreation Site near Palmer from July 15 through the end of the season to allow construction crews to rebuild the entire campground.

This closure includes both access to the lake’s only public boat launch and day-use areas. The road leading down to the site also will be barricaded.

Wayne Biessel, the Mat-Su/Copper River Basin Area park superintendent gave some background on the site and the construction project.

“The park gets 30,000 to 35,000 visitors a year,” he said. “This level of use justifies the nearly $1 million being spent for the facility upgrades, but the timing of the construction work has raised some eyebrows among the public.”

To accommodate the campground’s peak use period — between Memorial Day weekend through the Fourth of July holiday — the park won’t close until July 15.

Until then though, the Finger Lake State Recreation Site offers guests 36 campsites on 69 acres divided between two campground road loops. Toilets, water, and picnic sites are available on the grounds. There is no size restriction for RV’s using the facility.

Biessel said public access to the park during construction is restricted because the contractor will be running heavy equipment and moving construction materials such as fill, gravel, barrier rock, and top soil back and forth between the two sides of the campground for the duration of the project.

This construction project will include all labor, equipment and materials required to construct approximately 2,630 feet of campground roads, 28 campsites with new and salvage park amenities, 200 feet of wooden fence, and a new water system.

Biessel said the access road closure access to the only public boat launch on Finger Lake.

For alternate sites boaters can use during the Finger Lake construction closure, Biessel suggested Lake Lucille, the two state parks in Big Lake facilities, and the Nancy Lake State Recreation Area. He said all of those sites offer camping and day use and comparable amenities to Finger Lake.

“I think when the construction is finished and the public begins using the improved facilities at Finger Lake,” Biessel said, “I expect our users will be pleased with the new Finger Lake facilities and what they offer the camping and boating public.”