New cleanup corps takes action

on Palmer Hay Flats

By DANIEL SPOTH/Frontiersman reporter

MAT-SU -- It is difficult, at this time of year, to walk across the Palmer Hay Flats where it is crisscrossed by the muddy waters of Cottonwood Creek without hearing the warble of a dozen different kinds of birds. It is also difficult to traverse the same ground without seeing evidence of litter and other pollution: Shotgun shells, empty bottles, pieces of plastic or puddles of oil.

The flats are home to thousands of birds, including not only common ducks, geese and gulls, but also rarer avians such as sandhill cranes, which nest there during the summer. During the winter, the flats become a haven for moose and other active mammals.

The area also serves as a haven for Valley residents wishing to enjoy the flats, however, and this often creates problems since the lack of regular enforcement in the area means that it, like its northern cousin, Jim Creek, is often used as a dumping ground for trash of all kinds. At the flats can be found not only the ubiquitous empty shotgun casings, but whole discarded appliances and vehicles.

A new group of concerned citizens, calling themselves the Palmer Hay Flats Conservation Corps, is working together to alleviate the situation. Saturday, workers pulled on gloves, laced boots and hoisted sacks and shovels to help restore the area to some of its former beauty.

Among the refuse hauled out of the flats and its attached parking areas Saturday were a poached swan, a moose carcass, a dead fox, three domestic goat carcasses with collars, a smoldering couch that had obviously been left recently, a mattress, two partially destroyed burn barrels, a broken toilet, countless shotgun shells and empty alcohol bottles, and five entire engine blocks. At least one burned and battered car frame lurked in the mud lower on the flats as well, amid more shells and wreckage. Kris Abshire, the coordinator of the event, also mentioned that at least five entire discarded engine blocks had been left near Rabbit Slough.

There are three access points to the flats, one at Cottonwood Creek, one at the Knik River and one at Rabbit Slough.

"Access points tend to be party places and popular dumping grounds," said John Hechtel with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

"Most everything has gun holes in it,"Abshire said.

All of the trash was thrown into a large disposal unit provided by the Mat-Su Borough, while the broken tree limbs and brush scattered around the area were piled and burned.

"It's terribly abused," said Abshire of public access to the flats. "It's just incredible what those people do."

Other volunteers were less temperate in their feelings toward the litterers.

"If they don't quit dumping around here, I'm going to take that stuff and dump it on their lawn!" said Dave Hopper, who said he visits the flats every Sunday and takes pictures of anyone dumping trash there.

The Corps has only begun to address the problems created by litter in the area. The Corps is made up of roughly 30 members already, said Abshire, and is currently working on attaining 501(c)3 tax-exempt status, an arduous process for which the Corps is actively soliciting volunteer legal advice.

Eventually, the organization plans to improve trails, create picnic areas and other public use facilities, and educate local residents with the goal of establishing a broad base of public knowledge of the flats and what they represent.

"Lots of people just zip across the flats," Abshire said. "They don't realize what a wonderful place this is. We'd like to raise awareness, to get the point across that the refuge belongs to everyone, not just the abusers."

"All we're asking for is good responsible behavior and accountability," Hechtel said. "There's lots of potential for recreation around here."

More long-term plans would place a nature center on the bluffs overlooking the flats in order to provide instruction to visitors.

Those wishing to lend a hand to the Conservation Corps are encouraged to contact Abshire at 373-7484. Abshire said her organization would be glad to accept any new members, but that anyone who enjoys the hay flats didn't need to make a formal commitment in order to help the area.

"You don't need a specific day to help clean up the flats," she commented. "The borough will lend you trash bags and cleanup materials any time."

Contact Daniel Spoth at daniel.spoth@frontiersman.com.