Settlers Bay on par for coastal park

WASILLA — A different kind of green space is coming to the Settlers Bay residential golf community if conservation fundraising efforts are successful for the purchase of nearly 300 acres of privately-owned coastal property near the Palmer Hay Flats State Game Refuge.

Great Land Trust is on a final fundraising push to complete a $1.4 million deal to purchase the property from Settlers Bay Golf Course LLC. Plans call for the creation of Settlers Bay Coastal Park, land that is a mixture of salmon streams, wooded social trails and salt marshes — all with sweeping views of Knik Arm.

“This is a special piece of property, and one the residents of Settlers Bay and the Knik-Fairview community can look forward to enjoying,” Great Land Trust Mat-Su program director Kim Sollien said Monday.

A planned fundraising event set for Thursday evening at the golf course will be a way to introduce the public to the project and hopefully make a dent in the remaining $40,000 left to raise for the purchase, Sollien said.

Sollien said the property has been on Great Land Trust’s radar for some time.

“It has some high-value habitat…. uplands, lowlands, estuaries, two salmon streams,” she said, “but it has been in private hands and certainly could have been developed.”

That changed in 2014, when Sollien was approached by Bob Ackles, the managing member of Settlers Bay Golf Course LLC, the property owner.

“We had just finished the purchase of land adjacent to the refuge near Machetanz Elementary,” Sollien said. “And Bob came to me with a newspaper article on it and said ‘why can’t we do that with this?’ (property). It was a huge surprise for us. They wanted to leave a legacy there.”

Ackles, who along with 10 business partners purchased the 110-acre course and its 500 surrounding acres in 2002, is no stranger to conservation efforts in the area. In 2007 he worked with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to install a larger culvert for Crocker Creek — which runs through the Settlers Bay development — to improve the native coho salmon run.

Ackles said Monday that the 295-acre parcel was “an important piece of habitat.”

“We see a regional park as an attractive thing to adjoin the hay flats,” Ackles said, adding that the time and potential risk in developing the land was on the minds of the partners.

“We’re all in our 60s,” Ackles said, “and we felt it was time for us to leave something behind. It works for us and it works for the community.”

Since 2014, Great Land Trust has worked to raise money for the purchase from local partners and private individuals. Once the purchase is complete, the land will be donated to the Mat-Su Borough for public management of habitat and recreational opportunities, Sollien said.

While the Settlers Bay residential development has seen its share of growth, the Knik-Goose Bay Road corridor south of Wasilla has experienced a population boom in the last 10 to12 years. With all that growth, both Sollien and Ackles said the Knik-Fairview region has very little in the way of dedicated trails.

“There are more opportunities in the winter out there, but I was surprised that there isn’t much in the way of summer trails,” Sollien said. “Our goal is to get with the community to see what types of trails are wanted and what fits the best with the habitat. We want it to become a really cherished community asset.”

Thursday’s fundraiser is set for 6:30-8:30 p.m. at Settlers Bay Golf Course. For more information, visit https://www.facebook.com/greatlandtrust

Contact reporter Steven Merritt at 352-2269 or steven.merritt@frontiersman.com