Moose Triplets - May 2008

Photos by Stuart Grenier

On the same day I found the owl nest I saw this cow with triplets. You have to look closely to see them but they are there.

I wonder if she adopted one or really gave birth to all three. This was also at the south end.

Owlets at RSL

Contributed by Stuart Grenier


Here are some owlets that I spotted at the south end of RSL late may last year. While paddling my dog alerted to an adult owl that was acting injured. After watching the old injured bird act for about five minutes I felt some eyes on my back and turned around to see these little guys looking down at me. I went back 5 days later to find they had not made it. Suspect an eagle spotted them. The nest was way too conspicuous.

Red Shirt Lake Landowners Association Meeting

The 30th Annual Meeting of the Red Shirt Lake Landowners Association will be held on Friday April 25th from 7:00 to 9:00 P. M.

It will be held in the 16th Floor conference room at 2550 Denali Street, located on the corner of Fireweed and Denali.

Wayne Biessel, Superintendent of Parks and Recrecreation will give a presentation regarding winter access to Red Shirt Lake. John Wilber and Keith Wilson will give us on the lake activities for '07 and '08.

We will also have updates on the Fish Creek Management Plan and the Rail Belt corridor and their impact on the area surrounding Red Shirt.

From Stu

Stu here, one of the new folks on Red Shirt Lake. At the picnic last summer folks were talking about how Big Lake and Lake Lucille have been closed to swimming because of hydro carbon contamination. The question came up of Red Shirt Lakes status on this question. Some folks thought it would never happen at RSL and others said it will probably be unavoidable. Being someone who likes to swim in the lake I became concerned about hydro carbons in the water, especially after seeing two fuel spills this summer in RSL. The following pictures are from the spills that I noticed. No names will be mentioned. DNR want $200 to test for hydro carbons. I hope that fuel spills and what we can do about them will be discussed at the next home owner meeting. Please forward this email to other folks in the RSL community. And by the way when and where is the RSL owners association meeting? Stu 337-5127 Hope to see you at the home owners meeting.
Picture 1 Bear punctured fuel container. Occured about 150 yards from shore on land.
Picture 2 oil from boat engine flows into RSL about August 07.
Picture 3 Oil on water from picture 2 spill. Covered about 40 square feet at least.
Picture 4 A swamped boat with engine partly submerged. The fuel tank leaked and the person who bailed it out noticed a strong fuel smell. This boat sat in the water for days like this. RSL had no known system or plan for storage and removal of contaminated water.

From Park Ranger Keith:

... it's not OK to get to Red Shirt by snowmachine thru the Recreation Area? I know alot of people are frustrated with the lack of snow (I am too), but Parks has the duty to protect natural resources including winter trails -- not enough snow, too much impact by machines.
Snowmachines on the lake itself -- while the whole Recreation Area is technically closed to motorized use, that use is at least not a resource protection issue and not our main concern.
Accessing Red Shirt by Cow Lake from the south; or from "Steve's Trail" off of the Willow Big Swamp Trail from the west is...ok.

Using the main winter trail thru South Rolly or the trail from Lynx Lake Rd through to Skeetna and Butterfly Lakes is definitely not OK (and expensive).

Thanks for any help,

Regards, Keith

If you can't ride - SKI or BIKE!

Here is a quick story and photos about our ski in Dec. 27-8, 2007. A friend and I went by ski to the lake from the winter gate on Nancy Lake Park Way on Dec. 27. It took 2 1/2 hours to the north end of RSL on the winter trail. The road part was groomed and had many skiers and sprint sleddog teams. The winter trail between south Rolly and RSL had very little snow but was well frozen. Maybe easier walked than skied. We were glad that there were snow machine tracks on the lake because it saved us from breaking trail. On Friday we came out and found seven skiers heading in to RSL and one guy on this fat tired bike. It was a great trip.

Thanks to Stu Grenier for the great pictures and trail update. If anyone would like to submit photos or stories of thier RSL adventures, please send them to mssmith@gci.net

Happy New Year everyone!

Port MacKenzie Rail System Info

The Matanuska-Susitna Borough and the Alaska Railroad Corporation propose to build and operate a rail line connecting the Borough’s Port MacKenzie to the existing ARRC rail system. The proposed rail line would provide freight and potentially passenger services between the Port and Interior Alaska.

Here, http://portmacrail.com/, you’ll find up-to-date information on the project, the alternatives map which shows where the proposed line could extend, how you can comment, answers to frequently asked questions, and more information about the proposed extension.

Over the past 30 years, several entities have considered construction of a rail connection to a port in the Mat-Su Borough. Port MacKenzie is now a port with ocean-going commerce and a road, soon-to-be-paved, but still requires rail to expand its development. Marine ports don’t reach their full potential unless they are multi-modal. The most recent and detailed of these studies was completed in 2003 (Matanuska-Susitna Borough Rail Corridor Study) which culminated in the recommendation of a route that would ultimately connect to the Alaska Railroad near Willow. The Mat-Su Borough has been the fastest growing area of the State for the past 16 years. Conditions have changed since the project was first considered. This growth along with new technical data make it critical to take a fresh look at the various alignments. The Borough and the Alaska Railroad are partners in this project. The Borough has asked the Alaska Railroad to prepare and submit an application to construct and operate a railroad between their rail system and Port MacKenzie. This is beyond a planning action and represents a specific request to construct the rail line. Attached to it will likely be explicit conditions under which such a railroad would be constructed. An application of this type requires an environmental document (either an Environmental Assessment or Environmental Impact Statement) as required by the National Environmental Policy Act or NEPA. The environmental document will be started sometime after January of 2008 and will be another way for you to comment. The environmental document is carried out by the federal Surface Transportation Board. Right now, we’re gathering as much information as possible in preparation for the application before the STB and the environmental document, which will follow. Because of the finality associated with this action, the Borough and the ARRC felt it prudent to take a final review of all the studies and information previously assembled to ensure that the route proposed to the STB be the best possible.

Annual Red Shirt Lake Picnic

The 2007 Red Shirt Lake picnic on July 21st was a huge success and loads of fun! Thanks to Ray and Suzanne Hickel, the generous hosts of this year's picnic. Fabulous food, beverages and amazing weather made for a terrific day! Here are some pictures of the fun day. Please feel free to leave a comment or email mssmith@gci.net if you would like to add your own pictures to the Redshirt Lake blog.

Next year, we may need valet parking for all the party boats!