WASILLA -- An attempt to tame rowdy recreational areas in the Butte is getting mixed reviews a year after new regulations were put into place.

At the heart of the complaints is a plan by the state to build a shooting range near Mud Lake.

People have been shooting weapons -- often illegally -- in the Butte for decades. So what's the big deal about a shooting range in the Knik River Public Use Area, a 260,000-acre recreation area recently designated by the state?

Butte resident Savon Duchein said a range -- especially one that's unmanned and in a remote area like Mud Lake -- is different than the random target shooting that happens in the area. A designated range draws more people, but the area lacks things like trash barrels and outhouses. It's located at the end of a poorly maintained residential road in a spot used by anglers, campers, bird-watchers and hikers.

"The range isn't open yet, but there are all sorts of shells. The ground is covered," Duchein said.

Cliff Larson, a permitting officer with the Alaska Department of Natural Resources who oversees the Knik River Public Use Area, said the state is looking into teaming with the Mat-Su Borough to install permanent toilets in the Knik River use area. The range might be a candidate for both toilets and trash cans if traffic there warrants it, he said.

Duchein said she isn't against shooting -- she goes to a certified range for target practice. Her beef is with DNR "ramrodding" the range through without a proper public comment period, she said.

Range opponents say DNR failed to notify residents when it decided to build the shooting range. A public comment period on the range opened after trees were already cleared from the area.

Duchein gathered about 200 signatures over two days from people who opposed the range. The petition failed to stop it, however.

Larson said the trees were cut as part of a state forestry timber contract. The clearing was done before April 15 to avoid cutting timber while birds are nesting. The range was already vetted -- it was part of the Knik River plan, he said.

"The area was identified as a potential shooting range," Larson said. "What we're trying to do is to provide an opportunity that we took away from the public."

Shooting is now off-limits in other parts of the use area, such as near the Knik River bridge on the Old Glenn Highway.

Larson said the range will likely be built next spring using nearly $20,000 in funding from the National Rifle Association. It will have a covered shooting bench, a dirt berm backstop and posted shooting hours. It won't be manned, but DNR pays the Alaska State Troopers to provide enforcement in the public use area.

Residents who pushed for the Knik River Public Use Area plan several years ago as a way to corral the chaos on state, Native and federal land in their backyard say the new rules fail to do what state lawmakers intended. The Butte Area Residents Civic Organization is suing the state over the new management plan.

"The commissioner misinterpreted the purpose and intent of underlying legislation ... by allowing continued destruction of trails and habitat, and contamination of waterbodies ..." the Civic Organization's appeal filed in Palmer Superior Court states.

Other concerns include failing to provide non-motorized access, refusing to immediately post signs and educate users about damage off-road vehicles and others have caused to wetlands and habitat, and not charging user fees to pay for law enforcement, sanitary facilities and property protection.

"I agree there has been some improvement. There still are major problems," said Robert Howard, a resident who supports the appeal. His group, Knik River Watershed Group, is not a party to the suit.

Howard said he regularly photographs destruction of salmon-spawning streams in Knik and worries that the Jim-Swan Wetlands, a key stop for migratory birds as well as salmon-spawning and moose-rearing grounds, will be devastated by ruts from four-wheeler use.

"There's room for everyone in the Knik, but we want sustainability," Howard said.

Larson said lawsuits appealing management plans are par for the course -- he couldn't recall a state management plan that didn't end up in court.

He refused to comment on the appeal points but said motorized users complain that the area is now too locked up.

Larson said he's seen marked improvement there so far.

Between July 1 and Aug. 9, Troopers spent 166 hours in the area and wrote 22 citations based on the new rules which preclude bonfires, digging ruts with off-road vehicles and other offenses. That doesn't include charges for minors consuming alcohol or drunk driving charges.