Trail advocates are asking for people to comment on a State of Alaska land sale that would endanger several trails in the Rosie Creek area.
People have until September 1, 4:30pm, to comment on this proposed sale. See below for how to comment.
The Proposed Sale
The state is proposing to sell 220 acres of land to the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation (AHFC) through a noncompetitive conveyance for the purpose of building affordable housing. Alaska Housing Finance Corporation’s mission is to provide Alaskans access to safe, quality, affordable housing. See its website HERE. You can see the whole proposed sale document HERE. (The document is huge, but you can just read the Executive Summary to get the gist of it.) The land for the proposed sale is off Rosie Creek Trail road. You can see a map of it HERE.
Conflict with Rosie Creek Area Trails
Locals are concerned that a housing development in that area will have several negative consequences including the loss of trails. Several well-used trails cross the proposed land sale area. Some are year-round trails, some are mainly winter trails. These are motorized, multi-use trails. People from all around the Fairbanks area use these trails, especially in winter for snowmachining, skiing, fatbiking, and walking. The Beaver Pond trail and trailhead are a popular access point for these trails. You can see a map of the proposed land sale and the main trails that cross it HERE.
A local trail advocate has put together a list of bullet points people can use when commenting. You can see that list HERE.
Wetlands
Something particularly interesting about this proposed sale is that the land is almost entirely on lands designated by the U.S. Government as wetlands on its National Wetlands Inventory. (See a screenshot of the relevant area HERE.) Wetlands are not good places to build houses. However, they are often a great place for trails, especially winter trails. That’s definitely the case here.
To Comment
Submit comments to Andrew Miller:
- Email: andrew.miller@alaska.gov
- Mail: 550 West 7th Ave, Suite 640, Anchorage, AK 99501
- Fax: (907) 269-8916
If you have questions, call Andrew Miller at (907) 269-8599.
To see my comments click HERE. I had Word use its AI to get me started using the previously mentioned bullet points. Then I spent time editing the document and making sure it sounded like me. That worked pretty well. AI has its uses. You definitely need to check it, though. Some of the stuff it came up with was screwy.
