Fairbanks trail advocates, your help is needed.

An effort has been underway for several years to connect the Birch Hill Recreation Area and other trails north and east of the Steese Highway to the multi-use trails on Creamer’s Field Migratory Wildlife Refuge (aka the ADMA Trails). Ultimately, it would also allow connection to the UAF trails and beyond to the Alaska Long Trail system west and south of the Alaska interior. A critical part of this connection is a Steese Expressway underpass. The intent would ultimately be to allow Fairbanks and Fort Wainwright residents quick and safe access to the entire trails system surrounding the Greater Fairbanks Area and beyond.

At its meeting this Thursday, April 27, the Fairbanks Borough Assembly will consider granting local planning approval under a resolution for the Steese Expressway/Johansen Expressway Interchange Project.

STEESE EXPRESSWAY UNDERPASS MANY YEARS OF EFFORT

This interchange project is bigger than just the underpass, but it should include the underpass. Unfortunately, at this point, the underpass is not included in the project paperwork that the State Department of Transportation submitted to the Assembly for the resolution. If the underpass is not included with this project, it will probably be many years, if not decades, before it would be considered again.

Timing is key to this project’s success! Local volunteers have been going through all the proper channels and gotten all the approvals and support resolutions and letters from the correct authorities and agencies, including FAST Planning (the local urban transportation planning group), so it’s unclear why the underpass is not included in the paperwork. However, the volunteers are working with Mayor Bryce Ward and Jackson Fox, executive director of FAST Planning, to submit to the Assembly an amendment to the resolution that will formally include the underpass in this construction project (currently scheduled for 2026).

Bruce Jamieson, one of the volunteers, will be at the meeting to speak in support of the amendment and explain the situation.

HERE’S HOW YOU CAN HELP

Please tell the Assembly to amend the current resolution to require that the underpass is included in the project. The current resolution is “Resolution No. 2023-23.” You can find it online HERE.

• Send emails to or call Assembly members to let them know you support the underpass amendment that will be submitted for Resolution No. 2023-23. Find Assembly contact information HERE. (The top link on that page, “Contact the Borough Assembly,” will allow you to send an email to all the Assembly members at once.)
  
• Testify at the meeting and speak in favor of the underpass amendment to Resolution No. 2023-23. You have three minutes to speak. You can testify by attending the meeting in person or by calling in. Find out how by scrolling down to “How to Provide Testimony” on this PAGE.

PROJECT WILL HELP CONNECT COMMUNITY

This underpass will be used seasonally and year-round by a variety of recreational users under safely controlled conditions, allowing them to avoid this dangerous and complex highway intersection. A 14-year-old cyclist was killed there in 2010 after being struck by a truck that ran a red light. Users will include pedestrians, cyclists, skiers, dog mushers, skijorers, ATVers, and snowmachiners.

This will encourage more people who live or recreate on the east side of the Steese to travel off-highway for recreation and economic activities to areas on the west side of the highway. Long term, it will help to better connect our community.

The Fairbanks Comprehensive Trails Plan update is nearing its next big hurdle. If you’ve lost track of where it’s at, in March the Fairbanks Borough Assembly sent the plan update back to the Platting Board with some requirements due back by June 8. You can read about that here.

The Platting Board will be having a work session on the plan update this Wednesday, April 19. The work session will come after the regular meeting, which starts at 6pm. Several things are on the meeting agenda, so the work session probably won’t start until around 8pm (but that’s not a guarantee).

No testimony is taken at work sessions, which are for information gathering and clarification. Generally speaking at work sessions board members don’t debate the issue and actions can’t officially be taken. Still, the questions and comments by board members can illuminate what issues they are concerned about.

At its May 17 meeting the Platting Board will then vote on changes to the Trails Plan (again, see this story about the Assembly’s requirements). People will have a chance to testify then. (And people can lobby board members via emails and phone calls in the intervening time.) I’ll have another post about that closer to May 17.

If you are concerned about the plan update and you have the time, you should either go to the work session or listen in on Zoom. The work session will be held in the Mona Lisa Drexler Assembly Chambers, Juanita Helms Administration Center, 907 Terminal Street. You can get the Zoom link here.

(The work session is listed as starting at 6 p.m. This is so the board can start the work session as soon as it is done with its regular meeting, also scheduled for 6 p.m.)

You can get the Platting Board agendas and other meeting info here.

Bryant Wright, trails coordinator for the Fairbanks North Star Borough, is leaving his position to take job outside of borough government.

Wright will be taking a job as a planner with R&M Consultants, the consulting firm that was hired to help the borough update of the Comprehensive Recreational Trail Plan. His last day with the borough is Friday, April 7.

A new trails coordinator has not yet been hired, according to John Haas, borough parks superintendent. The borough has been advertising internally. If an appropriate person can’t be found internally, then the position is advertised to the public.

“I think we will be done with our internal candidates, if we have any, by the end of April,” Haas wrote in an email. “So if it gets advertised externally I expect it might ‘hit the street’ so to speak late this month or early next month.”

Wright has been trails coordinator since 2016, when he took over from Tom Hancock. Wright had been a project coordinator for the borough’s parks and recreation department. Hancock had been the first Fairbanks borough trails coordinator, hired to fill a half-time role which eventually became a full-time position. A long-time borough employee, Hancock worked as the coordinator for nine years before retiring from the borough.

Wright has been an instrumental part of several big changes regarding trails in the borough, including the trail plan update but also the addition of the Trails Challenges and the “Trail-a-Year” program.

COMPREHENSIVE RECREATIONAL TRAIL PLAN

Unfortunately, the trail plan has not yet been adopted by the Fairbanks Borough Assembly. It first came up for a vote last November, when the Assembly voted to postpone its adoption. Several assembly members, including some who had been elected that October, had concerns about how individual property owners might be affected by the plan. (In the latest move, the plan has been referred to the borough Platting Board.) Wright said he is sorry to be leaving before the plan is adopted.

“I’d say it’s awkward timing with the status of the Trail Plan, but it seems these changes are never easy or conveniently timed.”

An update of the plan has long been needed, Wright said. Over the years, many people have come to the borough wanting to work on certain trail projects, Wright said, but borough staff has been limited in what it could do because the original trail plan, first adopted in 1985, had had only minor updates since then.

“I really wanted to do that plan when I started,” Wright said.

Wright and the borough’s Trails Advisory Commission (TAC) tried to take on the update, but the job was massive and complicated. Fortunately, the borough was able to include the plan update as part of a military grant aimed at improving living conditions for military personnel. That grant was based on the anticipated increase in military populations due to the addition of aircraft being stationed at Eielson Air Force Base. Fortunately, often what’s good for military populations is also good for the local civilian population.

Also covered in that grant are updates to the borough roads and land use plans. Originally, the focus was on the Eielson and North Pole areas, but it quickly became apparent that issues in those areas, including access to open spaces and trails, were affected by boroughwide plans that needed updating. The military was understanding of those needs and allowed for the boroughwide plans to be included in the grant, Wright said. With money from that grant, the borough was able to hire R&M Consultants to help with the trail plan update.

TRAILS CHALLENGES

Probably most public change instituted during Wright’s tenure has been the summer and winter Trails Challenges, which encourage people to find signs on many of the trails in the borough. Twice a year, signs are placed at different places along trails and people have a few months to find them with the help of a Trails Challenge guidebook. Wright started the first challenge in the winter of 2016-17 right after he started. It attracted about 60 people, but now hundreds of people participate.

Wright came up with the idea of the Trails Challenges after being encouraged by his supervisor to find a way to “invite people to come out on the trails.” For a long time in the borough, many trail-related issues have had to do with people not knowing how to access trails or which ones were open to the public. While on vacation, Wright had seen a sign on a trail in Idaho that encouraged people to take a selfie. At first, he thought it was silly, but then he began to see the possibilities.

Wright is proud of the program in large part because it brings in such positive energy and a wide demographic. Over the years the program has added junior and senior categories to the awards program, for which prizes are awarded if people find a minimum number of signs. The trails challenges attract a lot of seniors, women, and families with children.

TRAIL-A-YEAR

Another big though less visible step for trails that happened during Wright’s tenure is the inclusion of the “Trail-a-Year” program in the borough’s Capital Improvement Projects (CIP) list. That happened just last year. Officially known as the “FNSB Public Community Trails Improvement Program,” this program allows the borough to spend $350,000 a year to fix up physical access at trail entrances and purchase easements or otherwise negotiate legal access or develop reroutes where the borough has trespass issues.

For the Trail-a-Year To be most effective, the Trail Plan update will first need to be passed. But the need has been there for years.

“It was so obvious,” Wright said. “The TAC has been requesting something like that for 20 years.”

OTHER BOROUGH PROJECTS

Wright also mentioned trail work done in several borough parks during the time he has been coordinator. He has worked with several different borough employees on the projects, such as trails and trailhead improvements in Skyline Ridge Park, and Isberg, Chena Lake, and Tanana Lakes recreation areas. Those projects have largely been funded by federal grant programs that have generous match programs. Some require a 50 percent local match, but others require just a 10 or 20 percent local match.

“I think people should know how good of a deal the community gets with these programs,” Wright said. “We bring in a lot for very, very little cost to the borough.”

REGRETS?

Wright said he doesn’t have any regrets regarding the job, though he does wish the trail plan update had been passed before he left. And he really wanted to get an agreement with the Mental Health Land Trust for an alternative route of the Equinox Marathon Trail around the infamous and problematic Alder Chute. That is still in the works, but Wright has made progress on it. Passage of the Trail-a-Year program and the trail plan update could help solve that issue. But overall, Wright said he is happy with all the progress made and all the support he has received from the borough and the public.

“This has been a really great job,” Wright said. “I would do it forever if my life wasn’t changing.”

Wright said there were too many people to thank for all they work they do to help trails in the Fairbanks borough.

“Fairbanks has something truly special with its trail system, but it also has exceptional people to make our outdoor adventures possible.”

OTHER WORK

In addition to his work as borough trails coordinator, Wright also serves on the boards of Alaska Trails and Fairbanks Paddlers and is on the state Outdoor Recreation Trails Advisory Board (ORTAB). With Alaska Trails, Wright has been a key part of the local working group for the Fairbanks to Nenana section of the Alaska Long Trail, an effort to create a trail connecting Fairbanks and Seward. The vision is for a multi-braided trail that allows multiple trail uses, motorized and non-motorized, where possible. Wright’s term on ORTAB finishes this year, but Wright plans to continue working with Fairbanks Paddlers, Alaska Trails, and the Alaska Long Trail project.

Wright and his family, who own Northern Alaska Packrafts, are staying in Fairbanks. R&M Consultants has an office here.

P.S. It seems appropriate that I learned about Wright’s departure while on the trails. I was on a bikepacking trip in the White Mountains National Recreation Area. I was biking part of the White Mountains 100 course backward on the day of the race. One of the participants, Mark Oldmixon, stopped to talk to me and mentioned the news. Mark is chairman of the borough Parks and Recreation Commission and learned the news the commission’s recent meeting.

Selfie photo of Wright from the Fairbanks Parks and Recreation Dept Facebook page for the first Winter Trails Challenge held during the winter of 2016-17.

The Fairbanks Borough Comprehensive Recreational Trails Plan update is still working its way through the local legislative process.

The Fairbanks Borough Assembly has sent the plan update back to the Platting Board with some requirements due back by June 8. The Assembly is also looking more thoroughly into whether the borough has the right to require trail easements during the subdivision process.

PROPERTY RIGHTS AND EASEMENTS

Passage of the plan update has been contentious with debate focusing almost solely on the requirement of easements.

Five members of the Assembly – Tammie Wilson, Barbara Haney, Jimmie Cash, Brett Rotermund, and Aaron Lojewski – have made it clear they support stripping the current ability to require easements for some trails during the subdivision process. They have said they are not anti-trails but are pro-private property rights.

The other four Assembly members – Savannah Fletcher, Kristan Kelly, Mindy O’Neall, and David Guttenberg – have supported passage of the plan update in its current form. They have said they feel property rights are already protected by the existing plan and plan update.

The plan does not give itself the power to require easements. Rather, that is in Title 17, the section of borough law dealing with subdivisions and other easement requirements. The Assembly already tried to change Title 17 but voted that down after Mayor Bryce Ward made it clear he would veto the change. See my previous post.

(I have been wanting to report more on this issue, but I fell ill after the Feb. 23 meeting and lost more than a week. I have been trying to play catch up ever since. Fortunately, Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reporter Jack Barnwell has had some good coverage.)

FEB 23 ASSEMBLY MEETING – PLAN UPDATE REFERRED TO PLATTING BOARD

At its Feb. 23 meeting, the Assembly voted to refer the Trails Plan update to the borough Platting Board with a recommendation due back no later than June 8. On a 5-4 vote – with Fletcher, Kelly, O’Neal, and Guttenberg dissenting – the Assembly approved a motion by Assemblywoman Tammie Wilson, which had two parts:

Borough staff must produce a map that shows “property lines and roadways so landowners can identify any impacted parcels they own.”

The maps produced by the trail plan update show roads and other features and some maps show some property lines, but none show all property lines. At the meeting, Borough Trails Coordinator Bryant Wright indicated he could create such a map but that it would require a bit of effort considering the size of the borough and the number of trails.

Borough staff must come up with three alternative ways that show “Category A and B trails connecting without forcing landowners to give up their property in the platting process.”

This will be trickier. The trails plan has three categories of trails: A, B, and C. A and B trails are considered of statewide and regional significance, respectively. (C trails are of neighborhood significance.) According to Title 17, A and B trails currently require an easement if the land they run across is subdivided. Wilson apparently wants to have possibilities to reroute any A and B trails off any properties that could conceivably be subdivided. (Some properties cannot be subdivided, such as properties that are already as small as zoning regulations allow.)

However, routing trails off one piece of property means they would have to be routed onto another piece of property. If that property is public land (federal, state, or borough) would that be acceptable? Public landowners must still provide an easement if the land is subdivided. And if trails can be routed only onto other pieces of private property, that would put the easement onus onto those properties.

At that meeting, the Assembly also made other changes to the plan.

• The Ace Lakes Connector Trail (IC9 in the trails plan update) was removed from the plan. This trail has proven contentious. Some people have devised an informal reroute, which appears to be working for now. It might be added to the plan at a later date.
• The conceptual Nenana Uplands Forest Traverse Trail (IAR-9 in the plan) was rerouted to provide more of a buffer to neighboring private property.
• Another amendment clarified that the borough would not use eminent domain to secure trail easements. That issue is not contentious as the borough has never used eminent domain for trail easements and has no plans to do so.

See the News-Miner story here.

FEB 27 TRAILS ADVISORY COMMISSION MEETING – WRIGHT GIVES UPDATE

Borough Trails Coordinator Bryant Wright gave an update to the Trails Advisory Commission at its Feb. 27 meeting.

Wright told the TAC about the instructions from the Assembly (the new map showing trails and property lines, and the three alternatives for A and B trails). He pointed out that the plan already requires that the staff be proactive about obtaining trail easements and that the Title 17 is considered a last resort.

“Hopefully we’ll be able to sit down with this assembly member and understand what’s needed there and what’s being asked for,” Wright said, according to the News-Miner. “We’ll work with the mayor’s office, assembly and platting board to come up with something.”

Any changes will likely require a public hearing, which would probably be in May, since the Assembly amendment required that a recommendation is due back no later than June 8.

See the News-Miner story here.

MARCH 9 ASSEMBLY MEETING – REQUEST FOR OPINION ON EASEMENTS

At its March 9 meeting, the Assembly voted to hire legal counsel from outside the borough administration to determine whether a second-class borough can use the platting process to mandate a dedicated easement while subdividing. The request was made by Assemblywoman Wilson.

Borough Attorney Jill Dolan provided a legal analysis to Wilson, but Wilson said it left a lot of questions as to whether trails were included in those powers. She said she wanted a third-party opinion from outside the borough administration. Specifically, she requested that Ketchikan attorney Scott Brandt-Erichsen be hired.

According to the News-Miner, Brandt-Erichsen is a “former attorney for the Municipality of Anchorage and the Ketchikan-Gateway Borough” and he “now works at Ketchikan law firm Keene & Currall and specializes in municipal law.” Dolan said she thought Brandt-Erichsen is a good choice and estimated that his services will probably run about $3,000.

Approval for funds to hire the attorney was passed 5-4, with Fletcher, Kelly, O’Neal, and Guttenberg dissenting.

See the News-Miner story here.

That’s it for now. I will continue reporting more as things develop.

Tom Paragi has been spearheading an effort to re-route the Mist Creek Trail after the 2019 Nugget Creek Fire. The trail takes off from the south side of Chena Hot Springs Road across from the CHSR 36.5 mile shooting range. Tom and Jim Brader installed reflecting diamond markers this weekend. The re-routed trail winds about 4.5 miles until it meets the Mastodon Trail about 3 miles from the Mastodon and Nugget public use cabins. The Mastodon Trail is currently not broken to the cabins, but Mist Creek is good to go now for exercise and nice views of the surrounding hills. Dress for wind at higher elevations.

This trail is good for snowshoeing and passable with backcountry skis (probably with skins) in winter. Hiking in summer requires crossing the Chena River by the shooting range. It’s not good for biking either season. The trail is a great overland access to the cabins and/or for packrafting access to the South Fork of the Chena River. It’s about half the distance of the Mastodon Trail.

Tom worked 20 years ago with several kindred spirits to re-open this old miner’s foot trail from the Gold Rush era that was a spur off the Chena Hot Springs trail. According to Tom, there’s still more to do. “A summer project will be clearing the ankle-grabbing deadfall that is now covered by snow.”

If you’re interested in helping out, contact Tom at tparagi@gmail.com

Back in 2009, before the reroute and markers were put in, Jay Cable and Tom Moran used the Mist Creek Trail for a pack rafting trip. Jay wrote about it in his blog.
https://yak.spruceboy.net/2009/06/fun-on-the-south-fork-of-the-chena.html