Comments Needed for Canoe Heaven
State Parks is opening the Nancy Lakes Management Plan for review concerning motorized access. Called “Canoe Heaven” by Backpacker Magazine, ACE supports all efforts to enforce the current management plan, but we need your help.
The Nancy Lake State Recreation Area and Area’s canoe trails are in trouble. Over the past several years, a small number of ATV users had been given special permits to ride their machines in the park to access private properties, even though the park’s management plan forbids all ATV use. This permitted ATV abuse is causing considerable damage to the recreation area.
Nancy Lakes just an hour and a half outside of Anchorage, is a place where you can find fish and wildlife, rolling hills, peaceful wetlands, and a quiet escape. The new superintendent is opening the Nancy Lakes Management Plan for review, with the focus on addressing motorized access.
What You Can Do:
Let DNR know: THE MANAGEMENT PLAN SHOULD BE ENFORCED, and that NO ATV USE SHOULD BE ALLOWED IN THE NANCY LAKE STATE RECREATION AREA.
Attend one or both of these scoping meetings:
Monday, October 27 Wasilla Public Safety Building 61 (101 W Swanson Ave)
Wednesday, November 5 Anchorage Robert B. Atwood Building, Suite 240
6:30 to 8:30pm
Or Send Written Comments to:
Superintendent Wayne Biessel wayne.biessel@alaska.gov
Project Manager Brandon McCutcheon brandon.mccutcheon@alaska.gov
Talking Points for comments:
1. Have you enjoyed time in the park? Say so! Tell them you’re a park user and have canoed/fished/hiked/photographed/etc. (You can skip telling about all the beer you portaged to Skeetna.)
2. The Nancy Lakes State Recreation Area needs more protection than ever. It boasts quiet, remote outdoor recreation (and a world-class canoe trail) within 90 minutes of most of Alaska’s urban population. Quiet places are getting rarer!
3. The goals of the existing management plan need to be enforced, not changed. Specifically, “retain the area’s quiet, natural beauty” and continue to ban motorized trail bikes and ATV use.
4. ATV’s should not be allowed in the park. Period. In the past several years, the previous superintendent readily granted Special Use Permits for ATV use and now many have come to see this as a right (even though the permit states that it is a privilege that can be denied or revoked at any time). The extensive damage this ATV use has caused to the park resource these past 8 years is totally unacceptable—and unnecessary.
5. Private landholders have access to their property—both motorized and nonmotorized. They have float- or ski-plane access because landings are allowed on both Butterfly and DeLyndia Lakes. They can haul supplies in during winter on snowmachines—the park is open to these machines once snow cover is adequate. They can also access their land like we do, by canoeing the lakes and hiking the portages. The issue isn’t access: the issue is that ATV’s cause damage to the park’s resources. The ATV use that has been allowed by “special use permit” has already created extensive damage. Much more damage will result if the park is opened to public ATV use, and management hassles will increase.
Bottom Line: “This is a special place. Protect it so it stays that way.”
Send written comments by November 30 to:
Superintendent Wayne Biessel wayne.biessel@alaska.gov
Project Manager Brandon McCutcheon brandon.mccutcheon@alaska.gov
