Deshka Landing Airport

Land redevelopment for public recreation. The primary reason for the airport's closure was the state-led development of the area into a formal, high-capacity public boat launch and recreation site. The land occupied by the airstrip was repurposed to construct the large paved parking lot, access roads, and campground facilities necessary to support the heavy seasonal traffic from boaters and anglers.

The site is now the Deshka Landing State Recreation Site, a major public facility managed by the Alaska Division of Parks and Outdoor Recreation. The area that once served as the runway is now a large, paved parking lot for vehicles and boat trailers, along with access roads and a public campground. The site is one of the busiest boat launches in the Matanuska-Susitna Valley, providing critical access to the Susitna River. While the terrestrial airstrip is gone, the adjacent rivers are still used by floatplanes.

Deshka Landing Airport was a small, informal, and likely unpaved airstrip. Its significance was local, serving as a private or public-use (unmaintained) landing area for general aviation aircraft, particularly bush planes equipped with tundra tires. Its main purpose was to provide direct access to the confluence of the Deshka and Susitna Rivers, a premier destination for salmon fishing and other wilderness recreation. The airstrip allowed pilots to fly in and access the river system, complementing the floatplane operations on the adjacent waterway. It was a functional, no-frills gateway to a popular remote recreational area before the site was formally developed.

There are no known plans or prospects for reopening the Deshka Landing Airport. The land has been permanently and significantly redeveloped with permanent infrastructure (pavement, buildings, boat ramps) for a different and conflicting public use. Given the site's importance and high traffic as a boat launch, re-establishing an airstrip is considered highly improbable.