Second vehicle pulled from Hay Flats

WASILLA — A Wasilla towing company and state Fish and Game employees took more than two hours to extract a 2012 Ford F150 pick-up truck from Wasilla Creek on the Palmer Hay Flats State Game Refuge Wednesday morning — the second vehicle crews have hauled out of the 28,000-acre refuge south of Wasilla.

Shortly before 10 a.m., Fish and Game Refuge Manager Doug Hill and an employee of Happy Hooker Towing stepped onto the icy wetlands from East Nelson Road near Rabbit Slough to scout a course for removal equipment to travel to the truck’s location. Though much of the ice on the flats is thick enough to hold an adult or even a four-wheeler, supporting a snowcat is a different story.

And in some places, no one would be safe from sinking waist-deep in freezing water. Areas of overflow and running water are common.

“Even on a cold year you get open water (out here),” Hill said, tromping out to the truck. “I don’t even like going on the lakes right now, myself.”

Hill said the refuge has a weight limit of 1,000 pounds for all vehicles traveling through to prevent damage to salmon rearing streams and other valuable habitat in the area. He said the rules are crucial to protecting the sensitive habitat.

“We’re not doing this just because we like to tell people what to do,” he said. “There’s a biological reason for it.”

About half a mile into the marsh, the black Ford lay mostly submerged in slow-moving water, corralled by ice of varying thickness. Hill warned reporters of thin spots — not easily identifiable to the untrained eye — while a few Happy Hooker employees punched away some ice around the truck with a metal pole.

This was after tow man Eric Behm took an accidental dip into the water surrounding the truck.

“It’s cold, in case anyone was wondering,” he shouted to those on shore.

Behm worked with his brother, Joe, and his father, Wade, who owns the company, to shave away more of the ice while they waited for the snowcat to meander its way to them.

By the time the vehicle and its driver, Ron Lavinge, arrived around 11:15 — having followed the trail carefully carved by the tow men — the truck was ready to be hoisted out.

Eric Behm got back in the water and hooked the winch to the truck’s front bumper and told Lavigne to let ‘er rip — but gently.

“Even though it’s under water, they don’t want to cause any more damage to the truck,” said Amy Jarmer, wife of Happy Hooker employee Kevin Jarmer.

Though she’s been named unofficial company photographer, Amy said Happy Hooker’s not legally obligated to record the wreckage.

“They just like to be able to show that they actually worked,” she joked.

Once the front right wheel of the ice-encrusted truck reached the edge of the ice, the Hooker boys shaved off a little more to make the incline more gradual. Shoving wooden planks under the wheel, they heaved the truck up as Lavigne reeled in the winch cable.

Finally, just after noon, the pick-up had been wrestled onto solid ground.

Wade Behm said later that it didn’t take long to hoof it back to the road at that point, though they did have to crawl under the truck and unhook the transmission to get it into neutral and rolling.

“It went pretty smoothly,” he said.

Behm said whoever is responsible for the truck finding its way through the ice is going to have a towing bill of at least “a couple thousand dollars,” not to mention whatever fine the state may charge him or her.

Alaska Wildlife Trooper Ernie Brent, who handled the first case of a vehicle through the hay flats ice this winter (that one was a Jeep), said this second case is still under investigation. The vehicle was discovered stuck in the ice earlier this month. The driver has not yet been identified, though Brent did say troopers have identified the owners and have “a couple of good leads” as to how the truck ended up in the drink. He said he expects charges to be brought in the next couple of weeks.

Driving off-road on state game refuge lands is a Class A misdemeanor, which has a maximum penalty of a $10,000 fine and one year in jail. Troopers said an Anchorage woman who got the Jeep stuck in the refuge was charged with illegal off-road use of wheeled equipment, a non-criminal citation that carries possible penalties that include a $500 fine, seizure of items and points off a driver’s license.

Brent advised all state game refuge users to be aware of signs as well as printed and online regulations.

“Whether or not there’s a sign there, it’s up to you to know,” Brent said.

For information on Alaska’s refuges, including the Palmer Hay Flats, visit the Alaska Department of Fish and Game website at 1.usa.gov/1LurWBy.

Additional questions should be forwarded to the local Fish and Game office at 746-6300. Local infractions should be reported to Alaska Wildlife Troopers at 745-4247.

Contact reporter Caitlin Skvorc at 352-2266 or caitlin.skvorc@frontiersman.com.