PALMER HAY FLATS STATE GAME REFUGE -- The recreational renewal of Reflections Lake is almost complete.
A 30-foot-tall steel viewing tower rising on the lake's northwest side marks the end of an upgrade that began in 2008 with a mile-long perimeter trail. The $300,000 tower is expected to open this month.
The tower marks the end of a seven-year transition for the lake tucked between the Knik River and the Glenn Highway in the scenic shadow of the Chugach Mountains -- from "Rambo Rest Stop" to recreation destination.
The tower should be largely invisible from the lake -- especially when trees leaf out by summer -- and provide a whole new perspective, said Bill Wood, a board member with Alaskans for Palmer Hay Flats and retired federal biologist whose consulting company is involved with the project.
The tower will help visitors learn "what a treasure" Reflections Lake is, Wood said:
• A salmon-sheltering estuary at the mouth of the Matanuska River;
• A former hay-growing grassland that subsided to marsh after the 1964 Good Friday earthquake; and
• Home to wildlife ranging from shorebirds and raptors to the occasional black and brown bear.
"Thousands of motorists and citizens drive through the hay flats on the Glenn Highway every day," he said. "Hundreds of thousands of trips are made through the refuge every year, and the beauty of this place is largely unknown."
Still, Reflections Lake is certainly not undiscovered. It attracts about 50,000 visitors a year, officials say.
Families skip rocks from a wide beach near the parking area. Drivers making the Anchorage run from Fairbanks stop to use the restrooms. The quiet of winter brings lake ice interrupted by muskrat push-ups.
Refuge visitors clambering up metal stairs may be able to catch sight of geese, swans and sandhill cranes. They will likely spot moose, especially in winter. While hunting is permitted on the refuge, it won't be legal to shoot from the tower, refuge officials say. The tower's lower level will be wheelchair accessible.
Located along the southern perimeter of the Palmer Hay Flats State Game Refuge, Reflections Lake is an easy 30-minute drive from Midtown Anchorage and 15 minutes from downtown Palmer. Like many end-of-the-road spots in the Valley, the lake for years was treated like a cross between a shooting range and trash dump in a gravel pit next to the highway.
Volunteers and managers found all kinds of unnatural items in here, several said during a visit to the lake last week.
"Refrigerators, TVs -- anything you could shoot at, they moved in here," said Herman Griese, a former wildlife biologist who now sits on the board of Alaskans for Palmer Hay Flats.
Wood continued the thought: "You couldn't come out here without stepping on shotgun shells and debris."
The shells left behind a legacy of lead contamination in the soils near the lake, according to refuge manager Doug Hill. The lake was remediated in 2004, with some areas capped with clean soil and polluted soils not only removed but shipped to Washington state for disposal.
Fish and Game and Alaskans for Palmer Hay Flats developed a four-phase plan to improve recreational access that started with cleaning up access points. Then came the lakeside trail, a steel bridge across a slough and a covered pavilion.
It ends with the tower.
Managers hope the changes will "attract legitimate people and hopefully displace the unsavory characters," Hill said.
The new viewing tower is the result of an ongoing partnership between the state Department of Fish and Game and Alaskans for Palmer Hay Flats, a nonprofit established in 2005 to watch over the 45-square-mile refuge.
An array of supporters contributed money, labor or time to make the tower happen.
The bulk of the money, about $177,000, came from two federal grants administered by the state. Private donors contributing more than $5,000 each included ConocoPhillips, United Sportsman's Alliance and the Knik-Fairview Community Council. Round Earth Enterprises, Wood's consulting firm, and general contractor North Pacific Erectors provided about $67,500 worth of tower construction labor.
Things are calmer at the lake these days -- but not perfect.
Last week, the main trail to the lake was closed for tower construction and it was trouble-free.
But four severed moose forelegs were dumped just down the road. Purple paint covered rocks along the Knik River at an access near the lake, and trash and shells littered the ground.
Some time this month, somebody used the bathroom at another access to the Hay Flats -- Cottonwood Creek -- for a little target practice, according to an Alaska State Troopers online report. The several holes shot into the bathroom door cost Fish and Game about $1,100 to repair.
The lake has other user issues, too. Four-wheelers sometimes dig ruts into the swampy grasslands, triggering erosion.
And for some pet owners, Reflections Lake has turned into the Valley's de facto dog park. It's not. People need to keep their dogs leashed, Hill and Wood said. Fish and Game provides bags for people to pick up after their dogs.
"These are very fragile environments," Wood said. "They're very easily abused, unfortunately, by the folks that want to love them the most."