Waterfowl hunters: Palmer Hay Flats’ Cottonwood Creek bridge closed until 2013

PALMER — Waterfowel hunters who have used the bridge over Cottonwood Creek in the Palmer Hay Flats State Game Refuge during past years will have to find an alternate route when the upcoming hunting season starts Saturday.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game issued a press release recently reminding users of the game refuge that the bridge over Cottonwood Creek was condemned earlier this year and remains closed to all trail users.

Local hunters who plan to use the area during the hunting season are reminded that all-terrain vehicles will not be able to cross the creek and those traveling on foot will need to find an alternative access route to these wetlands, according to a press release issued by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game Division of Wildlife Conservation Lands and Refuge Program.

Doug Hill, refuge manager for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game Division of Wildlife Conservation, anticipates a new bridge will open next summer, but in the meantime users have to adapt.

“It’s been an issue for quite a while,” Hill said of the bridge Thursday afternoon.

The bridge, which was built in the mid-1980s, was officially condemned in January due to safety concerns and has not been available for public use since. Hill said some money has been appropriated to fund construction of a new bridge, but the entire sum needed to complete the project has not been met.

“It’s a top priority to get this thing installed,” Hill said.

Overall wear and corrosion of the nearly 30-year-old bridge, combined with vandalism, led to the closure. Funds from a legislative Capital Improvement Project and a federal aid Wildlife Restoration Grant have been secured to help replace the bridge.

User groups impacted greatest by the closed bridge, arguably, are hunters and anglers who fish in the area.

“The anglers have gone the whole summer without the bridge,” Hill said.

According to the press release, alternate access includes crossing the creek by small boat, walking upstream for a half-mile to a suitable wading location, or by boat from a different access point, such as Rabbit Slough.

In conjunction with the bridge replacement, the department is seeking additional funds to address and mitigate habitat impacts from ATV use on the area’s wetlands. Potential solutions may involve rerouting the ATV trail to less sensitive areas, the press release states.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.