Shooting range will only encourage more destruction

I am writing about your article in Wednesday’s paper, “Butte Residents up in arms over gun range.”

Yes we are up in arms. I live on a side street off Maud Road near where they are putting in the gun range.

I picked this neighborhood because it was quite, safe and close to local recreation where I could hike, ski, fish and kayak. I love this area so much I purchased a rental property first and the next year a home a couple of streets away.

When I rent to people they are looking for a safe quiet place. This proposed gun range could possibly make my property undesirable to rent and possibly lower the value of my property. I will no longer be able to tell new tenants that just a hike up the road is the most awesome view of the Knik River Valley and pristine lakes they can canoe or kayak on. Most people don’t like the sound of gunfire when they are recreating in the wilds unless they are specifically there to fire guns.

I would like also to address the fact that this proposed gun range takes away my right to recreate on public lands that are close to my home. I won’t be able to just take a hike anytime I want without the sounds of bullets in the air. People who have used the trails for horseback riding will no longer be able to do so as horses tend to frighten when hearing gunshots.

I own a rifle and a .45 pistol, I own a four wheeler, and a snowmachine. I ride back on those trails mostly during the week because that is when traffic is down and it is likely to be the most quiet time to watch the birds on the lakes. I always stay on designated trails and I do not go back there to shoot but to absorb the beauty of this awesome place. If I want to shoot, I go to a range, we have them everywhere in Alaska. But people are not satisfied with having to travel 20 miles to Birchwood or Wasilla. They would rather destroy a beautiful habitat full of life.

I assume soon Palmer will be like Wasilla, one big city with box stores, and soon like places in the Lower 48 like Florida, Texas and California, which is wall to wall people with only state or national parks available to be in nature.

But what upsets me most is that you are taking a pristine environment and endangering it with over usage. One only has to look as far as the Knik River on any weekend night to see what chaos will ensue if we make this place a destination specifically for the sake of shooting guns.

Not to mention the federally protected birds that use this area as a migration route and nesting grounds.

The fact that several acres have been cleared before the end of the public comment period was over shows a lack of interest of public input regarding the project. Basically circumventing the democratic process. By not having an EPA study done to see how this may affect the area the DNR and local politicians are showing utter disregard to the welfare of the local flora and fauna. By hiding the information in the Knik River access bill in 2008, as GPS coordinates, they purposely withheld vital information concerning the locations of the proposed ranges.

But the saddest part of all is what message we send to our children. We are destroying a valuable heritage for our kids and setting dangerous precedence with our lack of regard for the natural world.

Savon Duchein lives in the Knik River area.