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Where did Far North Bicentennial Park come from and what is happening to the area now?
The following was provided by Tom Meacham
The original Campbell Tract, when released from military use and transferred to the BLM on January 20, 1971, comprised approximately 5000 acres.
Prior to the 1976 federal legislation authorizing the Tract's transfer from the Federal government to the State and the Muni, the Muni had received two tracts: muni water storage tanks (10 acres) and a well site (5 acres). Prior to 1976, the State had received title to several parcels from the Campbell tract: the National Guard site (30 acres); a communications site (12.5 acres), and the Dept. of Public Safety/DOT site along Tudor Road (40 acres).
When the Campbell Tract was transferred under the 1976 legislation to the State, and from the State to the Muni, the State retained 262.5 acres along Tudor road, for study for future state facilities. It decided to continue to hold 37.76 acres of this parcel for future ADF&G uses, and transfered the remaining 217.5 acres to the Muni to be part of the Bicentennial Park. The 37.76 acres has since been deeded to the Municipality as part of the park.
The BLM inholding within the Bicentennial Park was authorized to be no more than 1000 acres. BLM finally decided to retain730 acres. This included the Campbell Creek Science center, the airstrip and revetment roads, and the BLM office building and an antenna field.
So by the time the transfer from the Feds to the State and from the State to the Muni had occurred, a total of about 827.5 acres had been taken out of the original 5000-acre tract.
After the transfer to the Muni of the Tract for "public parks and recreational purposes and other compatible public purposes," the following carving up of Bicentennial Park has occurred: Anchorage Botanical Garden, SAVE II School, Anchorage Police Headquarters, Animal Control facility. There may have been others. I do not know the acreage of any of these developments, but would guess that they comprise at least 200 acres total. It would be interesting to get an exact total of the acreage from the Muni.
The proposed Hilltop long-term lease (rather than their existing permit), together with their proposed expansion, represents another carving-up for a single use, even if park-related. The Simonian Little League ballfield proposal and the Bragaw freeway extension from Tudor Rd. to Lake Otis Blvd. are waiting in the wings. So the prognosis for keeping a large natural park on the fringe of our urban area does not look very good.
What did people expect in the early days of the Park?
Provided by Tom Meacham
I have briefly reviewed the 1985 "Updated Far North Bicentennial Park Plan." The public opinion survey we contracted for asked the following question: What do you see as the best use of land within the Campbell Tract? A total of 293 questionnaires were returned.
35 percent (103 responses) preferred low-impact recreation, i. e. hiking, birdwatching, picnicking, x-c skiing.
7 percent (19 responses) preferred high-impact recreation (i. e. ORV's, ballfields, golf, alpine skiing).
37 percent (107 responses) preferred general recreation (i. e. unspecified recreation, family outings).
33 percent (96 responses) stated that the Park should be left as it is.
These totals (and other responses) add up to more than 100 percent because there were multiple answers to the question.
It is significant that only 19 responses out of 293 picked high-impact recreation (which specifically included downhill skiing as a preferred use of the Park.
The following is from a letter Rita Hendrickson wrote January 27,2000 to the Anchorage Assembly. Rita was a key player in the creation of the park.
... I would like to briefly outline my background and experience on the establishment and planning for the Far North Bicentennial Park. I have considerable knowledge of the land and the various proposals over the years for the use of the park. I believe a little history of the land might be beneficial to your consideration of the proposal.
In 1971 as Conservation Chairman of the Anchorage Women's Club, I, and the Club, became interested in preserving this undeveloped land for future generations of Alaskans. We spearheaded a task force made up of representatives of approximately 12 civic organizations (about one third of them environmental in nature). Local, state and federal agencies also were invited to participate. At that time the Campbell Tract was under the jurisdiction of the Dept. Of Defense, the Army and the Army were considering surplusing the land. The decision had not been made on the method of its disposal. The City, Mayor Sullivan and City Manager Sharp, were anxious to acquire the land for use in place of Merrill Field and for gravel extraction. Our task force determined this was not good for the community as a whole and was not good land use planning due to the character of the surrounding areas. Inasmuch as our group was made up of civic groups representing a variety of residents we had them polled and the overwhelming response was to preserve the land as open space.
At our request the FAA did the Upper Cook Inlet Air Space Study which showed airport development of the area would conflict with flight patterns for both bases and the international airport. Another issue developed as the southern portion of the tract was subject to selection by the Cook Inlet Regional Corporation under the terms of the native claims act. The state Division of Lands worked with CIRI and an agreement was reached exchanging the land for the coal fields across the Inlet. The area currently occupied by Hilltop was the area subject to selection. It was more than one mile from the city limits at that time.
I was appointed by Governor Bill Egan to the Alaska Bicentennial Commission and served as Chairman until its conclusion in 1978. I also was appointed to the Borough of Anchorage Park and Recreation Board and served over 8 years on the Borough and the Municipal Park Boards. During my tenure on both boards we forwarded the establishment of the Campbell Tract as parkland. The Borough developed a Land Use Plan for the tract. The State Bicentennial Commission adopted the plan and asked the Anchorage Bicentennial Commission to join the State Commission in designating the land as the Far North Bicentennial Park. They did so. I spent a great deal of time in Washington, D.C meeting with the BLM managers and others regarding the adoption and transfer of the tract with stipulations for its use. The State Park Division was not interested in management of the land at that time.
On January 1, 1976, President Gerald Ford signed the Act passed by Congress establishing the Far North Bicentennial Park in accordance with the land use plan adopted by the Alaska Bicentennial Commission. The Act specifically states the land to be used in accordance with the generalized land use plan shown within the document.
A committee was then formed by the federal government to work out the details of the transfer. That Committee was comprised of the State Director of Lands, State BLM Director Curt McVee, Mayor Sullivan and myself representing the public at large. We met for some time and governmental staffs prepared papers for our consideration and approval. We even got down to the color of the buildings to be within the PLI (Public Lands and Institutions) lands bordering Tudor Road.
At some point along the way the Alaska Highway Department developed a plan to put a major interchange and bypass route through the middle of the tract. This was rejected by all parties after much wrangling.
After the land was transferred from BLM to the State thence to the MOA Mayor Knowles convened a Committee to oversee the plans and uses of the park. I chaired that Committee for several years. The Committee authorized a survey of the entire community and the result was 80% wanted the entire tract preserved as open space. The Citizens’ Committee issued an updated Far North Bicentennial Park Master Plan which is dated March 25, 1983. The Master Plan was sent to the Mayor and the Assembly and was adopted by the Municipality.
It was during the Citizens’ Committee considerations of the various uses that could be accommodated within the parkland that Hilltop first came and asked for the area they now occupy. Hilltop was insistent that if we did not grant them the use for a downhill area before completing our review they would not be able to continue and would lose the opportunity to purchase a used lift. This seems to be their favorite ploy as I have heard it repeated in each of their subsequent requests for land. At this time I question the validity of that argument. After a close vote they won the right to put the ski lift up.
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