The Alaska Boating Association definitely supports more boating access to the Susitna River drainage.
The 1987 legislation that created the Willow Creek State Recreation Area recognized the high demand for a boat launch there. It anticipated that a launch facility would complement development of the campground, day-use parking and bank angling.
The 1989 Willow Creek SRA Master Plan, in response to public demand, highly recommended a boat launch at Willow Creek. After years of waiting, the boating association began to direct attention toward the need for additional launch facilities.
After several meetings with Jim Stratton, then director of Parks and Outdoor Recreation, the Department of Natural Resources agreed to support construction of a boat launch just below Willow Creek and within the Willow Creek SRA, the site recommended in the master plan.
This seemed to us to be the quickest, least costly solution to the boating access problem. Stratton, in an October 1999 letter to the Division of Sport Fish, agreed with our conclusion.
We proposed a shallow-water launch that would accommodate shallow draft vessels only, like hovercraft, airboats, jet skis and skiffs. The site would consist of a small launch basin, a ramp to the water and parking. This would be relatively inexpensive and quick to build.
We then went to Rep. Beverly Masek, who obtained $125,000 for the project. The balance, about $300,000, was to come from other state sources.
Nothing negative about the project was heard until time came to start construction. Then the local park superintendent started lobbying local individuals and groups to oppose the location.
At one meeting, he was quoted as saying that the launch would be built over his dead body. He brought up red-flag issues such as safety and erosion.
The ABA stands for boating safety and would never support unsafe boating. The inclusion from the start of a launch basin would assure that this site satisfied boating safety standards.
If erosion potential is as bad as the superintendent claims, he should be asking for funds to start erosion control measures, for the park will surely wash away in a few short years. Looking at aerial photos presented in the November 2000 study, it appears that 50 feet have eroded since 1966, rather than the 200-plus feet being quoted, with little or no erosion at the site we support. Erosion control is needed to protect the Willow Creek SRA with or without a boat launch.
We can build a road through three-quarters of a mile of wetland, build a launch and parking facilities there, employ separate staff to operate and maintain it and still have to spend money for erosion control to save the Willow Creek Recreation Area.
Alternatively, we can build a boat launch at Willow Creek using the existing paved road, build the parking lot with gravel excavated for the launch basin, provide for necessary erosion control and use existing park staff to oversee the site at much less expense and several years earlier than the alternative.
The Willow Creek SRA site would cost millions of dollars less to build, virtually nothing to oversee, and result in hardly any environmental loss.
We have been through all of these arguments several times. With proper erosion control and a launch basin, the Willow Creek site is the best, most economical site for the boat launch. With a large launch basin and an adequate channel to the river, this site could be ready to handle boat traffic within one year. The real problem that still exists is that the local park superintendent does not want us near his park.
While the state and the federal governments have spent tens of millions of dollars to build and improve boat launches, marinas and boat docks throughout the state, very little has been expended to provide adequate boating access to the Susitna River system.
For a 2002 study for the Department of Fish and Game, 71 percent of 641 people surveyed at the lower launch site said no when asked if there was enough boating access in the area. Three years later we are still arguing about site location and erosion control.
Boaters need to speak up and let the Legislature know that you would like this problem solved now. Our Legislature and Department of Natural Resources should be reminded that the Alaska's Constitution guarantees no citizen shall be denied free access to public waters.
Cliff Judkins is president of the Alaska Boating Association and a member of the state Board of Game.
