The Great Land Trust plans to buy the top of Bodenburg Butte in Palmer.
The Great Land Trust plans to buy the top of Bodenburg Butte in Palmer. Trust executive director Phil Shephard says fundraising for the project starts immediately. Shephard says when the purchase is made, the top of the Butte will be donated to the Matanuska Susitna Borough.
“The trail up Bodenburg Butte is the most popular trail in the Mat Su Valley. And this parcell came up. We haven’t purchased it yet. We have a purchase agreement, and we will be raising money. “
The Borough has not allocated any funds to the purchase as yet, Shephard says. But the Borough will be the land’s caretaker after the purchase is made. The 40 acres at the top of the Butte is owned by the Alaska Mental Health Lands Trust at present.
“Everyone was really surprised that Mental Health Trust owned the top of the Butte. And, you know, to be able to say ‘Yes, I helped to buy the Butte’ is a pretty rare thing, and so, we’re excited to know that people are excited to be able to help out. We need to bring dollars from the local community to the project.”
Shephard says the Greatland Trust needs to raise 187,500 dollars for the purchase by the end of this summer. The area is one of the Mat Su’s most loved hiking destinations and a local landmark, noted for its views of Knik Glacier, the Palmer Hayflats and the Chugach Mountains.
A fundraiser for the Butte purchase is set for May 8 in Wasilla.
APTI Reporter-Producer Ellen Lockyer started her radio career in the late 1980s, after a stint at bush Alaska weekly newspapers, the Copper Valley Views and the Cordova Times. When the Exxon Valdez ran aground in Prince William Sound, Valdez Public Radio station KCHU needed a reporter, and Ellen picked up the microphone.
Since then, she has literally traveled the length of the state, from Attu to Eagle and from Barrow to Juneau, covering Alaska stories on the ground for the AK show, Alaska News Nightly, the Alaska Morning News and for Anchorage public radio station, KSKA
elockyer (at) alaskapublic (dot) org | 907.550.8446 | About Ellen
