Jordan Lake parcel has a story of its own

BIG LAKE -- In 1998, Anchorage Audubon Society Inc, the Alaska Center for the Environment, Alaska Department of Fish & Game, and the Big Lake Chamber of Commerce hosted a loon festival in Big Lake.

Long-time resident Jim Faiks was active in the chamber at the time.

"It was really interesting, because you had the chamber of commerce partnering with the environmentalists and the birders," Faiks said. "But it made good sense to participate, because it would to bring people into the community."

Faiks agreed to be the "loon liaison," and helped plan the event. The festival committee decided one venue they could offer would be to take visitors to an area lake, where they could observe a nesting loon.

Faiks wanted to find a lake in the core area of Big Lake that festival goers could easily access. He got out a map and located a small lake close to the center of town, across the street from the Meadow Lakes shopping center. He called the Audubon Society and birder John Wenger, who had agreed to lead the walking tours, and came out and looked at the lake. Wenger and Faiks saw no loons that day, but Wenger told Faiks the lake had exceptional wildlife and birding habitat.

The loon tour ended up on another local lake, but Faiksâ interest in the property was piqued.

"Here was this beautiful, natural spot, right in the middle of town, that I never knew existed," he said.

When talking with the owner about walking across the land, Faiks learned she was planning to sell the property. He thought the community might want to use the land as a future park.

Concerned that the land would be sold before any action could be taken, Faiks bought it himself. At the time, Faiks said, he hoped the borough would buy the land from him -- at his cost -- and preserve the parcel. A friend visited the property with Faiks and gave him some good advice.

"He told me to get the community together," Faiks said, "to let this be something they do as a community, so they could also be a part of it."

Meanwhile, across the street, the Big Lake Library was outgrowing its shelves, and had already drawn up preliminary plans for a new facility on their existing site. But the lot was small, and offered no room for future expansion. When the library expressed an interest in using part of the parcel, the borough became interested as well. They offered to trade Faiks borough property of the same value, and Faiks agreed.

"The library patrons were very supportive of the idea," said Faiks.

In June of 2000, the land transaction was complete, and the borough built the new Big Lake Library in one corner, leaving the wetlands, lake and much of the 44-acre parcel undisturbed. The library was completed in September 2001.

Six years later, Faiks is pleased with how things have worked out. He ended up breaking even on the land, trading for three remote parcels in the borough, and the Big Lake community got a nice chunk of land.

Last year, while walking the property with a friend, Faiks discovered a pair of nesting sandhill cranes.

"So many people think of wetlands as not of any value," he said. "They don't understand that wildlife really need this habitat."

Faiks is a builder by trade, and feels there is a way to develop the Jordan Lake parcel and still maintain the natural areas. This is what the community and the borough are trying to accomplish through the Jordan Lake Parcel Master Plan.