This piece is by Seth Adams, an avid recreationalist and IALT board member
Great news! There is the chance to expand the upland trails in the Isberg Recreation Area, off Cripple Creek Road! And the Interior Alaska Land Trust (IALT) needs your help!
The Isberg Recreation Area has been growing in popularity in recent years, largely because it has some of the best winter trails in Fairbanks. But it also offers some rare upland trails on Chena Ridge for both summer use and the chance to get above the inversion in the winter. Now we have a chance to expand those trails and connect some loops.
The IALT has come to a purchase agreement to buy 90-acres of (mostly) upland forest on the edge of the Isberg Rec Area, which will expand the trails and make an existing loop trail much better. The trail currently follows a section line on a powerline that goes straight down the hill. I’m a good skier, and it’s a terrible trail. With this parcel acquisition, the trail can be moved to a more reasonable alignment, making a much better experience. On the included map (below), the parcel, known as Graceland Estates, is outlined in yellow, and the Isberg Rec Area is outlined in blue.
Land acquisition, and building out greenspaces in general, is a somewhat messy patchwork. Graceland will be a piece of a puzzle. But the IALT has been working for years on this and other places in the Fairbanks area. (While the land trust is not a trails-specific group, it does recognize the importance of trails so that people can use and connect with land preserved for greenspace.)
Goldstream Valley and Chena Flats Work
The IALT is within spitting distance of completing a really really nice greenbelt all through the Goldstream Valley, including Goldstream Creek, that has been 20 years in the making. In fact we’re fundraising right now to buy a parcel in Goldstream that includes an important, previously-blocked trail, and a corner of Goldstream Creek.
We also have spent years working on obtaining parcels in the Chena Flats area. Our work there preserves trails and wetlands, including the restoration of natural flow to a portion of Cripple Creek.
Cripple Creek Valley
Now we’re working again on Cripple Creek, but this time on the other side of Chena Ridge, and it’ll be a long process. Graceland is going to be a really good piece of upper Cripple Creek.
We just got contract for this parcel signed, and we’ve just begun fundraising. But we need funding to pay for it. We got started with a $60,000 donation from one enthusiastic and generous neighborhood trail user, and have some received other smaller donations. Our total fundraising goal will be in the neighborhood of $170k, so we have a ways to go, but we hope to get many more donations as we get the word out. (See below for two ways to donate.)
Helping Protect Trails and Greenspaces Permanently
Donating to the IALT is a chance to make a big mark on Fairbanks, since these small changes to the map are permanent improvements. For a relatively small amount of money, public parks can be expanded in such a way that loops can be connected, making the very best kinds of trails – the kind that inspire you to get out the door and go do them in a way that out-and-backs just don’t (if you’re like me, at least).
The IALT has been slowly working to connect the patchwork of public and private properties that is so common in Fairbanks and can be a hindrance of well-connected trails. If you’re not familiar with the IALT’s work, here is a fundraising appeal letter that I wrote on behalf of the IALT this past winter. Nobody likes it when their favorite trail gets suddenly closed.
So, please consider becoming a member of the land trust, and go to our page (https://interioraklandtrust.org/donate/) and donate.
Go Fund Me
Haley McCaig has also put together a Go Fund Me page to help raise money for the Cripple Creek effort. Check it out HERE.
The biking photos below are of some (really fun) singletrack trails that a guy named Tony puts in each winter off the upper Isberg Recreation Area trails. I don’t know him, but I like it when he works his magic. (Photos by Seth Adams)
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