Up a creek?

User groups aim to preserve motorized access to Knik River basin

DAWN DEUSK/Frontiersman reporter

PALMER - Four-wheelers and dune buggies criss-cross on the bank of the Knik River, followed by plumes of silty dust. At a camp nestled in a tangle of trees, a young boy relinquishes to his sister his turn on the four-wheeler. A family decked out in life vests boards a Hovercraft while a Ford pulling a boat trailer backs up to unload a cabin cruiser.

The Alaska Outdoor Access Alliance and many nonmembers who enjoy access to trail systems or waterways in the Knik River public-use area are sounding the alarm about recommendations to shut out motorized access there.

In 2003, at least three federally funded studies

of the Knik River drainage system concluded off-road vehicles were damaging the areas, according to Alliance President Todd Clark. Now, the federal Bureau of Land Management could revise its

land-management plan for the popular site, he said.

"If we push people out of the Knik River area, then where are they going to go?" Clark asked.

Getting the word out

The Knik River area, with its wide expanse and existing trails, offers the perfect terrain to ride and inflict the least amount of damage on the land, Clark said.

Outrage at being denied all access has fueled efforts to protect access for all motorized-vehicle users.

Approximately 75 motorized-recreational-vehicle enthusiasts penned letters to the BLM and lawmakers, supporting legislation that would protect off-road-vehicle access on state land northeast of the Valley, according to Clark.

In addition, members of the group wrote letters asking BLM to allow the Knik River public-use area to remain open to all off-road-vehicle use.

The Alliance hosted the letter-writing campaign Wednesday at the Palmer Depot, and Tuesday at University of Anchorage Alaska's Lucy Cuddy Center.

Clark said Tuesday's meeting produced 53 letters.

Those letters will be hand-delivered to BLM headquarters in Glennallen prior to the public-comment deadline of July 28 on the East Alaska Resource Management Plan, Clark said. The BLM is now accepting final comment on motorized access in the off-road trails connected to the Glenn, Richardson and Denali highways. In the future, BLM plans to determine whether the recreational area will be designated as open, limited or closed to all ORVs in the Knik River drainage system.

Sometimes this winter, the Mat-Su Borough Assembly will be reviewing a land-management plan to govern use on its 6,000 acres in the Knik River basin. When the plan went before the public, some comments indicated people's desires to reduce conflict between user groups, and eliminate damage to natural resources, according to Mat-Su Borough's Department of Planning and Land Use Community Development Director Ron Swanson.

Those comment were people's opinion, not the borough stance, he said.

Fighting procrastination

The gatherings in Palmer and Anchorage created a united front for all types of motorized-vehicle users. Clark said the group effort encourages completion of simple, but crucial tasks - no matter how passionate a person may feel about an issue, sometimes an individual may have trouble finding the time to write, address, stamp and then send a letter to a legislator or an appropriate government agency.

"Most of us have jobs and work all week, and then every weekend we're out camping, boating and fishing. On Thursday nights, we're packing for our weekend outings," Clark said.

The Alliance asked participants to include in their letters a request that the same ORV restriction be applied to the Knik River area as other state-owned lands: Operators will use existing trail systems and roads.

'It's a war'

Sen. Charlie Huggins, R-District H, supports maintaining five decades of traditional use of motorized access in the area. He said he's flown a plane into the Knik River drainage system, where both of his sons shot their first black bears.

"This is a campaign, not a battle. It's a war, and, quite frankly, we're on the high ground. We're getting in front of the issue. Your adversaries have figured out to scrape in monies from the government. They want to put a fence around it that says: 'Closed. No riding. No hunting.' We'll be saying, 'Remember how it used to be. We want to keep it how it has been.'"

"We're always on the tail end. After a [conservation] group gets together to restrict ATV use, we get out to fight it," said Cliff Judkins, president of the Alaska Boating Association. "We want AOAA to be the go-to organization."

Patti Barber, a 35-year resident of the Butte and AOAA treasurer, owns a canoe, four-wheelers and a swamp buggy. Her family hunts and fishes in the Knik River drainage.

"If the motorized-user groups don't protect this area, we could lose it. If people close us out of the recreation area, there will be problems elsewhere," Barber said.

Contact Dawn De Busk at 352-2252, or dawn.debusk@frontiersman.com.