WASILLA - When state wildlife trooper Doug Massie steered his boat up to the dock he was investigating on Nancy Lake, he said he thought it resembled an offshore oil-drilling platform.
Massie on Sept. 31 filed charges against the dock owner, David K. Thomas, of interfering with habitat and building without a permit.
Massie said the dock, with a concrete deck 15 feet above the water, is a clear violation, as it allows no light to filter through into the fish-rearing areas under the bank.
“Sure, one guy’s not going to absolutely devastate the resource. It will have some impact, but when we allow precedent like that. … It’s going to get ugly and it’s going to have a big impact,” Massie said.
Calls seeking comment from Thomas, president of Alaska Interstate Construction, an Anchorage firm, were referred to his attorney, Michael Moberly, who did not return calls.
The huge dock is noticeable around the lake and has caused a stir in the community near Willow, Massie said. Habitat violations like this are increasingly common in the Valley as more folks move in, he said.
The pleasure boats Thomas docked at the structure, Massie said, are frequently seen farther south on Big Lake, long a destination for Alaska water-sport enthusiasts.
But, he said, he has noticed a marked increase in recent years of noise complaints by loud boaters on Nancy Lake. As Big Lake fills up, he said, people are heading farther north.
Massie acknowledged that he does have a connection to the lake. His parents, Dallas and Alice Massie, are property owners. His mother works with the local homeowners association. He spends time there.
“My parents are property owners on the lake, but the bottom line is I’m the only (wildlife) trooper in the Talkeetna-Willow area,” Massie said. “If this had been Larson Lake? You bet I would’ve been all over it. That’s what I get paid to do.”
Massie said he eventually interviewed Thomas, whom he described as pleasant and helpful. Thomas showed him mockups of his plans for his lakeside property and said he had documents showing the dock was legally constructed. He canceled an appointment to show them to Massie but never rescheduled, Massie said.
The dock did not go unnoticed as it was being built, Massie said. According to an affidavit he filed with the case, state park rangers in late February spoke to workers hauling steel construction materials across the frozen lake. The rangers asked for an ice-crossing permit.
The workers’ permit did not match the one needed for the equipment, and in return they were issued a warning and told to get the right permit, according to the affidavit. They were allowed to continue on their way.
Massie said that by the time he got the case it had been passed from Alaska State Parks to the Department of Natural Resources. When he got there in May, the dock was all but finished - workers were pouring concrete.
“I wish I could’ve handled it from the beginning,” Massie said, explaining that he might have been able to keep the dock from going in.
He said the charges he filed usually result in a fine. A judge can order that Thomas remove the structure, which would be Massie’s preferred outcome.
Still, with 18-inch pylons and a concrete deck, it’s going to be tricky business taking the thing down at this point, Massie said. The only habitat-friendly way he can think of is to send divers in to cut it off at the base.
Thomas is due Nov. 29 in Palmer District Court before Judge John Wolfe.
