Crowdog
04-26-2005, 07:46 AM
Mat-Su residents, ATV riders need remedy to ease growing concerns
Man vs. machine
By KYLE HOPKINS
Anchorage Daily News
Published: April 25th, 2005
Last Modified: April 25th, 2005 at 05:47 AM
WASILLA -- Two guys in their 20s, jeans caked in mud to the knees, stood at the lip of a gravel pit along Seldon Road. It was just before 7 on a weeknight, and their dirt-splattered four-wheelers waited a few feet away.
Boulders, 121 of them ranging from the size of footlockers to that of treasure chests, stood in a defiant row between the men, the machines and the pit. The rocks weren't here a year ago when the same riders came through this area, they said, but times are changing in the Valley.
The casual use of ATVs to get from one place to another is slowly eroding as houses appear in the middle of familiar trails. Some riders worry that the more Mat-Su is carved into smaller and smaller lots, the more the region will resemble much of Anchorage -- devoid of four-wheelers, said Mike Erickson, president of the Alaska ATV Club.
Maintenance crews, meanwhile, spend thousands of dollars of public money cleaning up after what ATV advocates describe as a few thoughtless riders. Long-simmering tension over off-road vehicles near homes and businesses is growing more intense, according to police who field the complaints.
People call the cops daily about dirt bikes and ATVs zipping past their houses or on paved roads and bike paths, said Lt. Rick Roberts, an Alaska state trooper stationed in Palmer. "The riders seem to be getting younger and seem to be more carefree and more hazardous," he said.
According the Alaska Trauma Registry, 41 people were hospitalized in 2004 for ATV-related injuries in the Mat-Su. One person died. Both numbers represent one-third of the state total.
"Our response to injury and fatal accidents is very costly to the state government and costly to the families that see their kids harmed," Roberts said.
Some angry home and business owners are growing bolder. Roberts said one man was charged with reckless endangerment after burying a board full of nails along a powerline right of way near his house off Wasilla-Fishhook Road.
Troopers and city police can cite riders, usually with a $100 fine, for most violations. They can impound the ATV and arrest tipsy riders for drunken driving. But in many cases, there's little authorities can do when a rider is determined to get away.
"They're hard to catch," troopers spokesman Greg Wilkinson said. "They take off across a field; we're sitting there in a Crown Vic on a paved road. It's not fair."
Some longtime Valley residents talk about learning to ride an ATV shortly after learning to walk and cherish the ability to take a four-wheeler to the gas station or corner store on a sunny day.
Newcomers such as Don, a 32-year-old paralegal who declined to give his last name, moved here at least partly for those freedoms. They spend big money -- $7,000 on a new quad just this month, in Don's case -- so they can enjoy the countless trails in the Mat-Su area.
"I just hope that the people who move out here from the city realize what they're moving into," the new resident said as he and his young son fueled up at the Tesoro station at the corner of Wasilla-Fishhook and Seldon roads.
But while four-wheelers and other off-road toys are big business in the Valley, cash is flowing in another direction too. Public and private money often pays to fix damage caused by rogue riders or to build roadblocks and fences to keep them out.
ATVs and dirt bikes eat away at the gravel shoulders of public roads, which in turn cracks away at the asphalt, said Kurt Devon, Mat-Su district superintendent for the state Department of Transportation and Public Facilities. The vehicles tear up freshly seeded soil and spin and spit gravel on paved bike paths that must be plowed about six times a summer.
All this maintenance costs the Transportation Department tens of thousands of dollars a year, Devon said. It's money that would otherwise be spent on other problems in the Valley, such as fixing potholes, repairing lights or repainting roads.
Mel Wick, owner of Wick Air along the Palmer-Wasilla Highway, spent about $10,000 to fence off his small runway last summer. Trees surrounded the business when it started in 1976, he said. But as the fields next to him opened up, off-road traffic in the area increased, and despite the danger of descending planes, some riders can't resist testing their speed on the runway.
Wick, 73, understands their thinking. He raised three boys who were partial to minibikes and motorcycles. From behind his counter at his shop, where framed paintings of aircraft hang on the wall and the sounds of machinery echo in the hangar next door, Wick talked about how the Valley is changing.
"I don't want to antagonize them; I just want that they're safe and that I'm safe," he said.
Talk to enough ATV riders and enough frustrated property owners and it's clear that not everyone on a four-wheeler is a punk kid tearing up lawns and not every person who complains about vehicles speeding past his or her home is a villain. Which means there should plenty of room for compromise.
Scott Lapiene, president of the Mat-Su Trails Council, said one way to ease the tension is by creating more areas where ATVs and other trail users can play. More easements created around popular existing trails would help, he said, along with a commitment to trail maintenance and adding things such as parking lots to accommodate all the people.
Erickson, head of the ATV club, which counts about 30 Valley residents among its 75 members, said that as Mat-Su land is carved into smaller and smaller lots, the need for those dedicated trails is growing more pronounced.
If nothing else, the Matanuska-Susitna Borough would like to see people on dedicated trails rather than, say, the Seldon Road gravel pit, which it owns. It was also the borough that tried to block access to the gravel pit after neighbors complained about late-night noise and lights flashing in their windows, said Ron Swanson, the borough community-development director.
Two borough employees, who make roughly $15 an hour, spent two days moving the boulders to the site just behind Teeland Middle School and bordering a subdivision. It was supposed to be set aside for some type of recreational use, such as basketball courts, but when the money never materialized, off-road enthusiasts found another way to play there.
Evan Goss, 23, was one of the riders standing at the edge of the pit recently. He came to the Valley less than two years ago, partly because it seemed like a laid-back place to live, where people could ride their snowmachines and four-wheelers in peace.
To riders like Goss, asking people in the Mat-Su to stay off their four-wheelers is like moving to San Diego and complaining about all the surfing. "I wouldn't have bought a house that has a trail on it if I didn't expect people to ride on the trail," he said.
Contact reporter Kyle Hopkins at khopkins@adn.com or call 352-6710.
Man vs. machine
By KYLE HOPKINS
Anchorage Daily News
Published: April 25th, 2005
Last Modified: April 25th, 2005 at 05:47 AM
WASILLA -- Two guys in their 20s, jeans caked in mud to the knees, stood at the lip of a gravel pit along Seldon Road. It was just before 7 on a weeknight, and their dirt-splattered four-wheelers waited a few feet away.
Boulders, 121 of them ranging from the size of footlockers to that of treasure chests, stood in a defiant row between the men, the machines and the pit. The rocks weren't here a year ago when the same riders came through this area, they said, but times are changing in the Valley.
The casual use of ATVs to get from one place to another is slowly eroding as houses appear in the middle of familiar trails. Some riders worry that the more Mat-Su is carved into smaller and smaller lots, the more the region will resemble much of Anchorage -- devoid of four-wheelers, said Mike Erickson, president of the Alaska ATV Club.
Maintenance crews, meanwhile, spend thousands of dollars of public money cleaning up after what ATV advocates describe as a few thoughtless riders. Long-simmering tension over off-road vehicles near homes and businesses is growing more intense, according to police who field the complaints.
People call the cops daily about dirt bikes and ATVs zipping past their houses or on paved roads and bike paths, said Lt. Rick Roberts, an Alaska state trooper stationed in Palmer. "The riders seem to be getting younger and seem to be more carefree and more hazardous," he said.
According the Alaska Trauma Registry, 41 people were hospitalized in 2004 for ATV-related injuries in the Mat-Su. One person died. Both numbers represent one-third of the state total.
"Our response to injury and fatal accidents is very costly to the state government and costly to the families that see their kids harmed," Roberts said.
Some angry home and business owners are growing bolder. Roberts said one man was charged with reckless endangerment after burying a board full of nails along a powerline right of way near his house off Wasilla-Fishhook Road.
Troopers and city police can cite riders, usually with a $100 fine, for most violations. They can impound the ATV and arrest tipsy riders for drunken driving. But in many cases, there's little authorities can do when a rider is determined to get away.
"They're hard to catch," troopers spokesman Greg Wilkinson said. "They take off across a field; we're sitting there in a Crown Vic on a paved road. It's not fair."
Some longtime Valley residents talk about learning to ride an ATV shortly after learning to walk and cherish the ability to take a four-wheeler to the gas station or corner store on a sunny day.
Newcomers such as Don, a 32-year-old paralegal who declined to give his last name, moved here at least partly for those freedoms. They spend big money -- $7,000 on a new quad just this month, in Don's case -- so they can enjoy the countless trails in the Mat-Su area.
"I just hope that the people who move out here from the city realize what they're moving into," the new resident said as he and his young son fueled up at the Tesoro station at the corner of Wasilla-Fishhook and Seldon roads.
But while four-wheelers and other off-road toys are big business in the Valley, cash is flowing in another direction too. Public and private money often pays to fix damage caused by rogue riders or to build roadblocks and fences to keep them out.
ATVs and dirt bikes eat away at the gravel shoulders of public roads, which in turn cracks away at the asphalt, said Kurt Devon, Mat-Su district superintendent for the state Department of Transportation and Public Facilities. The vehicles tear up freshly seeded soil and spin and spit gravel on paved bike paths that must be plowed about six times a summer.
All this maintenance costs the Transportation Department tens of thousands of dollars a year, Devon said. It's money that would otherwise be spent on other problems in the Valley, such as fixing potholes, repairing lights or repainting roads.
Mel Wick, owner of Wick Air along the Palmer-Wasilla Highway, spent about $10,000 to fence off his small runway last summer. Trees surrounded the business when it started in 1976, he said. But as the fields next to him opened up, off-road traffic in the area increased, and despite the danger of descending planes, some riders can't resist testing their speed on the runway.
Wick, 73, understands their thinking. He raised three boys who were partial to minibikes and motorcycles. From behind his counter at his shop, where framed paintings of aircraft hang on the wall and the sounds of machinery echo in the hangar next door, Wick talked about how the Valley is changing.
"I don't want to antagonize them; I just want that they're safe and that I'm safe," he said.
Talk to enough ATV riders and enough frustrated property owners and it's clear that not everyone on a four-wheeler is a punk kid tearing up lawns and not every person who complains about vehicles speeding past his or her home is a villain. Which means there should plenty of room for compromise.
Scott Lapiene, president of the Mat-Su Trails Council, said one way to ease the tension is by creating more areas where ATVs and other trail users can play. More easements created around popular existing trails would help, he said, along with a commitment to trail maintenance and adding things such as parking lots to accommodate all the people.
Erickson, head of the ATV club, which counts about 30 Valley residents among its 75 members, said that as Mat-Su land is carved into smaller and smaller lots, the need for those dedicated trails is growing more pronounced.
If nothing else, the Matanuska-Susitna Borough would like to see people on dedicated trails rather than, say, the Seldon Road gravel pit, which it owns. It was also the borough that tried to block access to the gravel pit after neighbors complained about late-night noise and lights flashing in their windows, said Ron Swanson, the borough community-development director.
Two borough employees, who make roughly $15 an hour, spent two days moving the boulders to the site just behind Teeland Middle School and bordering a subdivision. It was supposed to be set aside for some type of recreational use, such as basketball courts, but when the money never materialized, off-road enthusiasts found another way to play there.
Evan Goss, 23, was one of the riders standing at the edge of the pit recently. He came to the Valley less than two years ago, partly because it seemed like a laid-back place to live, where people could ride their snowmachines and four-wheelers in peace.
To riders like Goss, asking people in the Mat-Su to stay off their four-wheelers is like moving to San Diego and complaining about all the surfing. "I wouldn't have bought a house that has a trail on it if I didn't expect people to ride on the trail," he said.
Contact reporter Kyle Hopkins at khopkins@adn.com or call 352-6710.