As the leaves begin to turn, the wonderful summer we have had comes to mind; lots of sunny days and long, pleasant evenings. It was a great season to get out and play. The numerous parks we have in our community made it easy to watch a ball game at Loretta French Sports Complex, play disc golf at Schroeder Park, hike Mount Baldy, or ride a bicycle on the Mirror Lake trails. These are opportunities we shouldn't take for granted.
Just imagine how different your summer might have been if one of your kids stepped on a used hypodermic needle at Mirror Lake. Or if you arrived at Mount Baldy trail head with visitors to show off Alaska's scenic wonders and found the ground, trash receptacles, and gates covered with fresh, profanity-laced graffiti. Or if you woke up in a hospital because someone was too lazy to take a couple months worth of household trash to the landfill and dumped it in the utility easement next to parkland. The last thing you might remember was seeing a black bear with what looked like a baby diaper in its mouth.
This thoughtless behavior comes with a price. It took about $2,000 to remove the extensive graffiti at Mount Baldy earlier this summer. It cost the local dog mushers about $10,000 to repair trail damage at Beach Lake caused by 4x4's. People with ATVs and 4x4 vehicles are regularly traveling the utility easements that parallel the Glenn Highway near Mirror and Edmunds lakes. While this activity sounds benign, it frequently involves incursions onto parkland closed to motorized use and is a major factor in the illegal dumping that seems to permeate the Chugiak area. And with illegal dumping come the bears.
Thankfully, no one stepped on a needle or was injured by a bear this summer as a result of illegal dumping, but the potential for such incidents is real. We don't see the needles, graffiti and trash because Eagle River/Chugiak Parks & Recreation Manager Karen Richards and her staff make it the highest priority to remove these threats to our safety and enjoyment of our local parks and trails.
I call upon my neighbors in the Eagle River-Chugiak area to give our park staff a hand in a couple of different ways. Please use the parks we have in our community! They are wonderful places to enjoy a wide variety of outdoor activities. A park full of people at play displaces those few who despoil our opportunities through criminal activities, such as littering, vandalism and damaging trails and facilities with motor vehicles.
It also might be helpful to keep an eye on what kids are doing during unsupervised time. Any spray-paint showing up on their clothing? Is the ATV still full of gas and are the keys where they belong? "Kids will be kids" is the often-used excuse for many questionable activities. We need to be aware that while young people sometimes get a little goofy and do something "stupid," a rare few will be swept away by extremely poor decision-making. Heroin is in our community and it is cheap. Park staff is finding used needles in our parks often just lying around in the grass.
Anchorage Parks and Recreation may be requesting additional funding to deal with the illegal dumping and motor vehicle use of parkland. The request will be for gates and concrete barriers at key locations to prevent unauthorized motor vehicles from entering parklands. Parks and Recreation is also considering a request for an additional, seasonal maintenance person to help keep up with the impact of vandalism. I think we should let our elected officials know we support this request. They are Amy Demboski (demboskia@muni.org) and Bill Starr (starrwe@muni.org).
My last suggestion is, if you are witnessing illegal or dangerous behaviors, call the Anchorage Police Department. Help them out by getting a picture of the offenders with your phone and write down a description of the offenders and their vehicle license numbers if possible.
Our local parks and recreation resources are for us to use and enjoy. A little vigilance and care on our parts may go a long way in protecting them.
Pete Panarese is a member of the Eagle River/Chugiak Parks and Recreation board of supervisors.
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