Does this mean our ship has come in??

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Darrell
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Does this mean our ship has come in??

#1 Post by Darrell »

Trail-building fund catches state agencies by surprise
$4 MILLION: Sen. Stevens' office put initiative in U.S. spending bill.


By ROSEMARY SHINOHARA
Anchorage Daily News

(Published: January 6, 2005)

Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens, seeing that the state didn't have any major trail-building fund, created one and put $4 million into it.

The Alaska Trails Initiative was included in the big spending bill that passed Congress late last year to fund government agencies and pay for projects across the nation.

At first, no one in the state Department of Transportation, the state Parks Division, or even the Federal Highway Administration's Alaska office knew what this money was for. Trail enthusiasts were clueless too.

But word has trickled out.

Now, different federal agencies and organizations are trying to figure out how to get some of the money.

"This was created by us, since there were so many trail requests and not enough money to fund them all," Senate Appropriations Committee staff member Mimi Braniff explained in an e-mail forwarded by Stevens' office. Stevens was the committee's chair last year. "This way the state can decide who is really in need of the money."

Stevens, as part of a long statement for the congressional record on the omnibus spending bill, described his intention for the $4 million. He said the state should develop a statewide trails initiative with the money and award grants on a competitive basis for development and reconstruction of pathways.

He specifically said the state should spend no more than 1 percent of the money on administrative costs.

He listed as eligible for the money trails in Girdwood, where he has a home, and at Arctic Valley, Russian River, Hatcher Pass, Kodiak and in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, among other places. He also mentioned some specific trails: the historic Iditarod Trail being rebuilt between Girdwood and Seward; the Under Thunder and Perseverance trails in Juneau; and the Sitka World War II causeway.

He named the Gorsuch trail in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, but borough officials can't think of a place named Gorsuch in the Valley, said Ron Swanson, the borough's community development director.

"I just don't know," Swanson said. "The only thing that makes sense to us is Mat-Su. Gorsuch doesn't make sense to us."

He has been working with Stevens' office for a couple of weeks, and they're looking into it, Swanson said.

One theory is that the a piece of the money is meant for a Boy Scout camp that's being planned north of Talkeetna. The Scouts have a camp named Gorsuch in Anchorage, at Mirror Lake.

Bill Haines, chief executive with the Western Alaska Council of the Boy Scouts, said a name hasn't been picked for the new camp, which will be between the Chulitna and Susitna rivers about 17 miles north of Talkeetna. But Camp Gorsuch will stay in Anchorage, he said.

He just got an e-mail saying that the Boy Scouts got $2 million for their new camp, Haines said.

But that doesn't appear to be part of the Alaska Trails Initiative.

Haines referred questions to Stevens' office.

"To be honest, I'm just learning about it today," he said Wednesday.

More is known about some other trails listed.

For instance, a Juneau group, Trail Mix Inc., requested $4 million from Stevens to build the Under Thunder Pathway, which would be a four-mile paved trail with bridges, running from the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center to Egan Drive, along the base of Thunder Mountain. It would weave between the mountain and neighborhoods, said James King, Trail Mix director.

"It would be a wonderful thing," he said

Trail Mix asked for another $1.6 million to shore up the Perseverance Trail, which leads from Juneau up into the Silverbow Basin to old mines that were the reason Juneau was founded, King said.

"As far as we can tell it was the first road in Alaska," he said. But it crosses steep terrain, and the wooden cribbing that holds up the old road, now a trail, is failing, he said.

Some of the other trails are in U.S. national forests or parks.

The historic Iditarod Trail section from Girdwood to Seward is a huge reconstruction project that will cost more than $50 million and will cross some land managed by the Forest Service, said Beth Pendleton, Alaska director of recreation, lands and minerals for the agency.

People are looking at pieces of that trail that could be built in the current fiscal year, she said.

What's not clear yet is who's going to manage the money. And it's already obvious that the amount of the requests is far higher than the total in the fund.

The fund is starting out in the Federal Highway Administration's Western Lands Division in Vancouver, Wash.

Pendleton said she thought agencies including the Forest Service and the National Park Service would just submit requests to the highway administration.

But Stevens' statement indicates the state would get the money.

Gary Morrison, state Parks Division director, has offered to have a state parks advisory board review requests.

The Parks Division recently created the board -- called ORTAB for Outdoor Recreation and Trails Advisory Board -- to help hand out grants from a couple million dollars worth of funds designated for land and water conservation and trails.

The new board replaced the TRAAK Board that used to advise on state trail spending, but was abolished a year ago.

Morrison said he's had calls from people all around Alaska "wondering exactly who all is included in the initiative, who is going to get the money disbursed, and who is going to keep the books."

"I don't know, quite frankly," he said.

Daily News reporter Rosemary Shinohara can be reached at rshinohara@adn.com or 257-4340.

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john
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#2 Post by john »

I didn't read anything about sled trails, but it does sound like a lot of non-motorized trails..........

Darrell
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#3 Post by Darrell »

Wasn't TRAAK motorized trails :?:

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#4 Post by john »

TRAKK was both motorized and non-motorized. Most of the funds they received went to non-motorized projects.

Also, some of the members of the TRAKK board (at various times) wanted to lower the percentage that went to motorized project's and increase the non-motorize wtih that funding.

So you decide, is this a benefit for the motorized community or ???

Darrell
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#5 Post by Darrell »

Now, one more question where did TRAKK's money use to come from :?:

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#6 Post by john »

Our taxes.... :? ........

It was suppose to represent the estimated amount of gas tax paid by recreational vehicles. This was a national funding project. $$ was given to each state to use as they (the state) saw fit.

Lee Johnson would have a much better understanding and be able to give a better answer then I on this one.

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#7 Post by cleary »

Sounds like we should push for this money to be put out in trail grants.

TRAKK money is for both motorized and non-motoized even though the money comes from federal gas tax paid by motorized trail users. Sno-Trac grants have to be primarily for snowmobile use and the funds come from Alaska Snowmachine registrations fees.

Chuck

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