Knik River Ranch: Business owner aims to clean up Knik River property by building a campground

BUTTE — The proximity of the Butte to the population center of the Valley has developed a poor reputation for lawless activity over time. Efforts by the state and community members to clean up the Knik River bed and the Knik River Public Use Area have made significant headway, and one business owner is on the front lines of the fight to clean up the Knik River bed so that it could be a safe area for people to camp and recreate.

“It was so nasty, it was so dirty, it was so whatever and it was excluding people and that’s not fair,” Jim Parker said. “People again are like, well we go out there there’s no place to really park, it’s chaos, there’s nails and glass. Your horse stands a good chance of getting injured out here just because of thee metal and glass and everything else in the ground,”

But Parker is working to change that. In the fall of 2018, Parker began the process of securing the business license for Knik River Ranch. Parker plans to use the 20 riverfront acres next to the Old Glenn Highway at the Knik River bridge as a campground and has already been hard at working cleaning up the area.

“Every time I’m out here on the tractor people they’re like, this is the best man, we’re so happy because they come out here It’s a resource to them. I didn’t necessarily ask for this responsibility but I’m the guy right now,” Parker said.

Parker served in the United States Air Force as a Lieutenant Colonel for 23 years, serving mostly in Germany. He then went back to school and earned his Ph.D. Parker teaches personal finance at the University of Alaska Anchorage and formerly owned Alaska Equestrian Supply before rebranding as the Knik River Ranch last fall. Parker runs his own ranch on the 93 acres he purchased from the Baha’i’s, raising pigs, horses, cows and 200 pheasant. Parker has already begun putting up posts around his property and to the high water line, where he had a new survey done by the Department of Natural Resources. However, Knik River Ranch is nothing new to the Butte. Sabrieta Holland has been running the Knik River Ranch off of Bodenburg Loop since 1989. Holland owned the Knik River Ranch LLC until 2018, when Palmer purchased the name for his campground.

“I’ve worked really hard to build my reputation. We’re an actual farm. We have beef and pork and reindeer and all kinds of animals and for someone to just be able to steal it,” Holland said. “I am more than happy to talk to him and to still pay for whatever it costs him to switch it back over to his own business name that he had in Eagle River.”

According to Alaska Department of Commerce records, Holland’s Knik River Ranch had been involuntarily dissolved in 2013. Parker secured business licenses from the state and the Mat-Su Borough, and said he is not concerned with discussions that have been occurring online, and has no problem sharing the business name.

“I guess there’s going to be two Knik River Ranches,” Parker said. “This is kind of a non-scandal.”

The DNR survey of Parker’s land added a portion closest to the river at the high water line.

“The land that accreted, I want to say was about 15 acres of total area to that whole chunk. That compared to 260,000 acres of Knik River Public Use Area, I don’t see that as having a drastic impact on the use. You can, instead of turning right, you can turn left and go across Bodenburg Creek and you have over 100 acres of gravel bar if you want to camp on it,” KRPUA Land Manager Travis Jensen said.

The KRPUA was created in 2006 with a management plan instituted in 2008 and then ratified in 2012. Currently, the Department of Natural Resources has five peace officers that are authorized to patrol the area. Between 1,200 to 1,600 man hours from DPS are used to patrol the area per year, but the Knik River bed has maintained as an area for lawlessness. While a campground in the Butte may be a welcome reprieve to the decades of misuse and general tomfoolery at the Knik River bed, Holland is displeased that the name she built her business on is being used by someone else. Parker is not bothered by online criticism, and more concerned with cleaning the area up so that it can be used by horseback riders, ATV’S, and people walking their dogs. Parker was disgusted when he found a dog caught in a trap on the property.

“I walk my dogs out here every day. I ride my horses. I’m just like this place is disgusting,” Parker said. “This is not a remote location to go put your snares out where people are walking dogs.”

Parker’s plan is to charge a minimal fee for tent camping initially. Parker hopes to build a large deck to serve as a destination for outdoor events such as small church services, wedding photos, and a rodeo.

“I’m not looking for a high density, pack ‘em in type of thing. I’m looking for a better experience where people can literally bring their family, bring their horses, bring their kids and not be excluded by the behavior of somebody else,” Parker said.

Parker negotiated three separate transactions for the three parcels of land that add up to 93 acres.

“This was like literally the most complex transaction the survey, the financing for three parcels, the whole thing it took forever to get done,” Parker said.

Parker hopes to eventually move five cabins that sit on his land out to the riverbed, but wants to maintain a clean environment on the riverbed first. Parker’s first priority was to get rid of squatters on his property and then do the cleanup. Parker found dumped trash, nails, glass, and even a cow moose carcass that had been killed elsewhere and moved to the riverbed.

“I didn’t say hey, I aspire to be a campground manager, but people are going to judge (me) based on how this thing turns out,” Parker said. “Once we get that it’s safe and pleasant, I’m not here to tell people what [they can do], it’s going to be a campground.”

Contact Frontiersman reporter Tim Rockey at tim.rockey@frontiersman.com.