FLAT-OUT FUN

PALMER — For years, nature lover Lindsey Shelley avoided Palmer Hay Flats, even though she grew up in the Cottonwood Creek area.

“For a long time the Palmer Hay Flats was synonymous with illegal late-night bonfires, derelict refrigerator dumping and gravely hillsides littered with bullet casings and shotgun shells,” the stay-at-home mother of one wrote in her blog “Down to Earth” last August. “But if you’ve visited the Hay Flats recently you probably noticed that a lot has changed. The access points have been cleaned up and made more family friendly (and safe). No longer is shooting allowed at Reflections Lake (formerly called Shotgun Lake) and a lovely boardwalk has been erected around the perimeter for nature viewing.”

Shelley goes on to describe various improvements made at the state game refuge, including trails and an overlook at the Cottonwood Creek access off Fairview Loop, as well as future plans for a Natural Science Education Center.

She gives a shout out to the volunteer non-profit group Alaskans for Palmer Hay Flats for working tirelessly over the past few years to spread the word about the importance of the area and the need to preserve it.

“Thanks also to the careful management of Alaska Fish and Game, the Hay Flats are shaping up to be a wonderland for outdoors-people, nature-lovers and an abundance of wildlife,” Shelley blogged.

In support of Alaskans for Palmer Hay Flats (APH) and the area she now loves to visit, Shelley will be joining an estimated crowd of at least 450 at Saturday’s Winter Family Fun Day at Reflection Lake from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Accessed from the Knik River exit off the Glenn Highway at Mile 30.6, the fifth annual Winter Family Fun Day will feature cross country skiing, snowshoeing, ice skating, nature walks, wild birds from the Alaska Wild Bird Rehabilitation Center, warming fires, hot beverages, cookies and avalanche awareness information.

“The event grows more and more each year,” APH Executive Director Randi Perlman said Wednesday. “The first year there were about 50 people, the next year there were about 100, then 200, and last year there were about 450. We’re not sure how many we’ll have this year, but it’s exciting to see more awareness and appreciation of the Hay Flats.”

Perlman loves that passing motorists can look over from the Glenn Highway as they’re passing Reflection Lake and see the boardwalk over the wetlands and even the permanent restrooms put in last summer.

The 95-foot bridge installed last summer now allows visitors to walk the 1-mile loop around the lake and stop to enjoy the birds, ducks and other wildlife from benches and an overlook along the way.

“It’s beautiful, no matter what time of the year,” Perlman said, adding APH holds several events throughout the year, including a Summer Family Fun Day, educational field trips during the school year and a Run for the Refuge fund-raiser in July.

Perlman stressed that the Winter Family Fun Day is free, made possible through partnerships with Alaska Trails and Mat-Su Ski Club assisting with skis, R.E.I. Alaska lending skis and snowshoes, and the Mat-Su Borough Parks and Recreation/Brett Memorial Ice Arena providing skates.

Mat-Su Regional Medical Center donated water and hand warmers, Walgreen’s pitched in cups and hand warmers, and Carrs/Safeway donated cookies to the cause, Perlman said.

The event coincides with National Winter Trails Day and similar festivities all over the country.

“We flooded a large area of the lake this year so skaters will have a really smooth ice skating surface,” said Perlman, who was a competitive ice dancer as a teenager in Brooklyn, N.Y. “I might even give it a shot.”

She added that the rehabilitated birds are new this year, as are skate skis.

“It’s a spectacular place now,” she said. “And Saturday should be a lot of fun.”

Shelley, who’s studying to become a certified naturalist, said she’s looking forward to taking her 9-year-old son Izak out there to try out some snowshoes.

“He caught his first trout there last year,” she recalled fondly Wednesday. “We had it for dinner that night and it was delicious. He loves it out there. He’s looking forward to walking around the boardwalk and looking for animal tracks.”

For more information, call Alaskans for Palmer Hay Flats at 357-8711 or Mat-Su Borough Recreational Services Division at 745-9690.

Contact K.T. McKee at kate.mckee@frontiersman.com or 352-2252.