Sprucing up

Jim Creek area gets end-of-season cleaning

September 24, 2006

By Michael Rovito/Frontiersman

BUTTE - An army of all-terrain vehicles and lots of people power gave an autumn cleanup to the Knik River Public Use Area Saturday, as loads of garbage and burned-out vehicles were hauled from the popular area and taken to the landfill.

A steady, light drizzle coupled with cool temperatures forced trail crews into fleece pullovers and Carhartts, but the mood wasn't dampened as trailer loads of bright yellow trash bags were brought back to the Sullivan Avenue parking area. By 1:30 p.m., the entire bed of a Ford F-250 was full of the bags, which were brimming with trash.

Mike Kriger, who drove up from Anchorage for the event, said he came out to do his part to maintain the same trails he and his family use for recreation.

&#8220We'd hate to see it get closed down,” Kriger said, adding that party-goers in the area have compounded the litter problem.

Rolling into the parking area Saturday in his government-issued Dodge 4-by-4, Jeff Duhrsen, a law enforcement ranger for the Bureau of Land Management's Anchorage office, was all smiles about the effort being put forth.

&#8220I think it's phenomenal,” he said.

Duhrsen said an ongoing issue in the public-use area is under-age drinkers and others who don't respect the area but use it as a place to get away with illegal consumption of alcohol, adding further to the amount of trash strewn on the sides of trails.

Driving the muddy path to the Jim Creek area, Duhrsen encountered a steady stream of four-wheel-drive vehicles dragging out different types of trash behind them, from cans and bottles to entire cars.

One of those burned-out cars, being towed behind Darrin Mattingley's unique vehicle - a muscle car body jacked up on mudder tires - broke the silence of the woods with the sound of metal hitting tree roots and mud bogs.

Mattingley, who was being followed by his wife in her blue pickup, said he had seen everything from cars to toilets littering the trail.

Those abandoned cars are nothing new to the Jim Creek area, and as many as 50 were dragged out two years ago during a trail clean-up, Kriger said.

One reason for the abundance of cars and trucks, Duhrsen said, is that many of them were stolen in Anchorage and dumped or burned in the Valley.

The Alaska ATV Club seemed to be successful in solving at least most of that problem Saturday, spending about five hours hauling trash and having a good time. When the group returned to the parking lot, some covered in a thick casing of mud, a barbecue and prize drawing were waiting for them.

The group will be back in the spring to do it all again.

Contact Michael Rovito at 352-2252 or michael.rovito@frontiersman.com.