I took a walk around Westchester Lagoon on the one sunny afternoon we've had this fall. The parking lot by the duck pond was full of young Frisbee golfers waiting to use the course or discussing their just-completed game. It was the same good- natured banter that you might hear from the old duffers at the 19th hole at O'Malley.
Frisbee golf ("frolf" to aficionados) is very low key. There's no clubhouse, pro shop, bar, electric carts, branding opportunities, caddies who earn six figures, or course marshal. No one aspires to build snooty timeshare condos around a Frisbee golf course.
I have never seen a frustrated Frisbee golfer throw his Frisbee into traffic. Frisbee golfers drink Red Bull, not single malt scotch. To my knowledge, there is no international pro circuit, and no dedicated cable channel. The LPFGA does not raise money for charity by selling a cheesecake calendar.
Nevertheless, the course is always full, and everyone seems to be having a great time.
A lot of people walk up the Spenard Road hill. I hope that the controversy over road improvements on Spenard will not delay the much-needed pedestrian/bike/ski trail in this stretch. Anyhow, right there -- just a few feet from the pavement, with cars zooming by -- was a freshly chopped (chomped?) beaver tree. Actually, there were a whole bunch of them.
I looked out over the water, and a beaver slowly swam by. The wake from his nose made a perfect isosceles triangle in the still evening pond.
There are four beavers who live in Westchester Lagoon. They are starting their dam several hundred yards up Chester Creek. Will the authorities intervene with the beavers? Will PETA intervene with the authorities?
There are great possibilities here for news junkies who will be starved for drama after Election Day. "LIVE AT TEN! Heedless rodents expand, privatize Chester Creek! Whole logs just 'walk away'! Midnight construction floods neighbors' back yards, lacks city permit!"
The beavers' lodge is on the south shore of the Lagoon, prime real estate. I'd hate to imagine their tax assessment.
Other than the beaver lodge, the south shore is undeveloped. The Muni could extend the existing, decaying, trail along the south shore of Chester Creek, across Spenard Road, around the shore of the Lagoon, under Minnesota, and farther west, below West High.
Completing the last stretch would connect to the Coastal Trail and create a lakeshore loop, and give joggers, bikers and skiers an alternative to the current "out-and-back" experience on the Coastal Trail or the Chester Creek Trail. There are a few private homes along the southwest shore. In the winter we could just groom a ski trail across the ice. A year-round link would require a boardwalk like the one nearby, on the Coastal Trail.
A few years ago the islands in Westchester Lagoon were nesting grounds for geese. The geese formed a street gang and tried to take over the city, terrorizing pets and kids, goosing bicyclists, and depositing their slippery residue everywhere. Finally, after they took down the AWACS plane with 24 airmen aboard, the Muni cracked down. Now there are a lot fewer geese there, and those that remain are all on their very best behavior.
So thank you, Alaska Railroad. By laying your tracks along the shore of Cook Inlet 90 years ago, you dammed up creeks and converted mud flats into wonderful amenities like Westchester Lagoon and Potter Marsh. We probably could not do that today. The environmental impact would just be too severe.
Kirk Wickersham is an Anchorage attorney and real estate broker.
By KIRK WICKERSHAM