RESOURCES

INTERESTING WEBSITES ABOUT TRAILS IN ALASKA

Alaska Trails Public Service Announcements
Listen and download these audio public service announcements from Alaska Trails

This website isn’t about trails, specifically, but it is about a compelling epic Alaska trip traveling from Seattle to the Aleutian Islands via packrafts. Pure, wonderful nutso travel!: www.groundtruthtrekking.org

Want to see what the Bureau of Land Management has been up to regarding trails? The BLM Trails and Transportation Management webpage has recently been updated with links to a 2007 Trails Report highlighting Alaska trail projects, OHV Safety Messages, Trail Partners (including NPS-RTCA and Alaska Trails), and other BLM Alaska trail programs:   www.blm.gov/ak/st/en/prog/akcttm.html

Cross Country Alaska, a website about cross-country skiing (www.crosscountryalaska.org/site/), has a trails report page that allows people to comment on trails from every region of the state. Not all the trails have comments posted and some comments are a month or more old, but the comments are often useful
and they’re free!:   www.crosscountryalaska.org/trails/index.php

“Linkpendium” has a comprehensive collection of links for statewide hiking – although it lacks some excellent sites mentioned below:  www.linkpendium.com/hiking/USA/AK/

“Alaska Online.Org” has another compendium of hiking resources in Alaska with a heavy focus on Southcentral, but also including trail information from Kodiak, Fairbanks, and Southeast areas:  www.alaskaonline.org/hiking/index.php

This Slackpacker.com site has yet another collection of online hiking resources for Alaska:  www.slackpacker.com/map_ak.html

The Alaska State Park website includes lots of information on trails in state parks across the state:  www.dnr.state.ak.us/parks/

This website has a collection of articles about various outdoor activities (many trail-related) across the state:  http://gorp.away.com/gorp/activity/hiking/hik_ak.htm

Wildernet.com has some limited statewide information on a variety of outdoor activities across the state. However, it is very inconvenient to search: www.wildernet.com/pages/area.cfm?CU_ID=1&areaname=Alaska

“Alaska Hike Search: A Guide to Hiking in the Anchorage Area” is an easily searchable guide to hikes in the Anchorage area with regular contributions from readers on trail conditions, photos, etc.:   www.akhs.atfreeweb.com/index.htm

This Municipality of Anchorage Parks and Recreation Department website has information about the city’s trails, including multi-use trails as well as activity-specific trails. Also includes information on Eagle River Trails, winter trail maintenance, and a downloadable trail map:   www.muni.org/parks/Trails.cfm

This online guide to trails in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough includes downloadable maps and trail guides for specific trails, information about trail conditions, trail projects and programs, and plans and topics: www.matsugov.us/RecServices/TrailsHomePage.cfm

“Hiking in The Chugach Mountains” is a personal website featuring many photos of various hikes in Chugach State Park:   http://chugachpics.tripod.com/mainpage.html

“Trails.com” has links that appear to be assembled from “50 Hikes in Chugach State Park”, “55 Ways into the Wilderness”, and the Falcon guidebook “Hiking Alaska,” however, it might be convenient for someone who wants to check out the books before buying them (or doesn’t want to buy them). You can try the site free for 14 days: www.trails.com/

“Trailsource” organizes its searches by activity both motorized and non-motorized. It has a variety of trails across the state and includes such amenities as printable maps. You can purchase memberships by the year, quarter, or month:   www.trailsource.com/

State of Alaska
Alaska Trails System
www.dnr.state.ak.us/parks/aktrails/ats.htm
The Alaska Trails System was established with 41 trails in September 2001. The trails systems includes both land and water-based trails selected for their recreational, scenic, and historic value.

Trail Grant Programs
www.dnr.state.ak.us/parks/grants
Recreational trails and snowmobile trails grants are available through the State of Alaska.

Campbell Creek Science Center
http://www.blm.gov/ak/st/en/prog/sciencecenter.html
The Campbell Creek Science Center is operated by the Bureau of Land Management (U.S. Department of the Interior) with assistance from its many partners and volunteers. The Center is available for use by local school children, teachers, parents, clubs, and organizations for classes, meetings, and for conferences on subjects related to natural resources. Reservations are required and fees are charged to help defray operating costs. Individuals can use the library for self-study at no charge during normal operating hours if there is no conflict with scheduled classes. The Center can be contacted at 267-1247 and is located at 6881 Abbott Loop Road, Anchorage, AK 99507-2599.

WEBSITES WITH INFORMATION ABOUT TRAILS NATIONWIDE

SIGN UP FOR FREE E-NEWSLETTERS REGARDING TRAILS: Many national organizations offer e-newsletters that relate to Transportation Enhancements and to the Recreational Trails Program. Most allow you to subscribe easily. Here are links to pages where you can sign up:

Recreational Trails related...
• American Trails: www.americantrails.org/enews
• American Council of Snowmobile Associations: www.snowmobilers.org/ (see upper right)
• International Mountain Bicycling Association: www.imba.com/ (see News on the left side)
• National Off Highway Vehicle Conservation Council: www.nohvcc.org/ (see left side)
• Tread Lightly!: www.treadlightly.org/ (see news in the top menu bar)
Transportation Enhancements related...
• America's Byways Bulletin: www.bywaysonline.org/program/bulletin/ (see bottom left)
• National Transportation Enhancements Clearinghouse: Connections:
www.enhancements.org/ (see top right)
• National Trust for Historic Preservation: www.nationaltrust.org/ (see right side)
• League of American Bicyclists: www.bikeleague.org/ (go to Members/E-Newsletter)
• National Center for Bicycling and Walking: www.bikewalk.org/newsletter.php
• Rails-to-Trails Conservancy: www.railstotrails.org/newsandpubs/index.html (see eNews).

Value of Volunteer Time
A table that provides a historical look at volunteering and its estimated dollar value. Assuming that the same number of volunteer hours was served in 2004 as in 2000, the total dollar value of volunteer time for 2004 is estimated at $272 billion.

Logical Lasting Launches
www.nps.gov/ncrc/programs/rtca/helpfultools/launchguide.pdf
"Logical Lasting Launches" is a guidebook for development of canoe, kayak and small boat launch sites. The guide contains practical location, design and construction criteria for small boat launches. It includes a chapter on development of launch sites that meet ADA requirements.

National Trails Training Partnership
www.NTTP.net
The National Trails Training Partnership (NTTP) is a forum of diverse trail organizations and agencies whose mission is to improve opportunities for training for the nationwide trails community.

American Trails
www.AmericanTrails.org
Our members are working to enhance and protect America's network of interconnected trails. We support local, regional, and long-distance trails and greenways, whether in backcountry, rural, or urban areas. Our goal is to support America's trails by finding common ground and promoting cooperation among all trail interests.

Trail Easement Fact Sheets
Click here to access materials associated with the trail easement presentations given during the 2005 Alaska Trails Annual Meeting.

ATV Safety Issues - Lessons Learned
http://www.myfirecommunity.net/documents/Scratchline_Issue12.pdf
The interagency Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center has just issued a new safety newsletter on ATV safety issues. The article was written by a traffic accident reconstructionist who provides some interesting data on ATV speeds and safety, including Ozzy Osbourne's ATV accident.

Stabilized Engineered Wood Fiber for Accessible Trails
http://www.access-board.gov/research/play-surfaces/report-trails.htm
The U.S. Department of Agriculture¹s Forest Service and the United States Architectural and Transportation Accessibility Compliance Board have released a report that examines stabilizing engineered wood fiber to improve wheelchair and walker accessibility for outdoor recreational trails where traditional paving would be costly and would detract from the natural aesthetics.

Rails With Trails: Lessons Learned
www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/rectrails/rwt/toc.htm
This report is available on-line. Additional printed copies are available through the FHWA Report Center. See www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/rectrails/trailpub.htm for the order form, or send a fax to 301-577-1421 and request publication FTA-MA-26-0052-041. It is also on the FHWA Bicycle and Pedestrian Reports order form at www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/bikeped/order.htm.

Rails-to-Trails Conservancy has recently added a Trail-Building Toolbox to its website. This new
feature is designed as a comprehensive resource center to fit the needs of all involved in trail development.
See the Toolbox at: www.railstotrails.org/whatwedo/trailbuilding/index.html

R.S. 2477 Court Decision
The Utah federal court case determined the blading of RS 2477s claimed by the county constituted new construction and was in essence trespass on BLM managed lands (Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument). The decision contains good history on recent court cases regarding RS 2477 issues.

Mechanized Trail Building Equipment
http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/rectrails/equip/
The Mechanized Trail Building Equipment Web site (http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/rectrails/equip/) is designed to provide useful information about equipment to trail designers, builders, and maintenance personnel. Small mechanized equipment is defined as less than 60 inches (152.4 cm) wide. Included are representative examples of smaller skid-steers, excavators, track loaders, dozers, haulers, all-terrain vehicles (ATV's), utility vehicles (UTV's), attachments, and a variety of miscellaneous equipment. There are also links to useful literature such as trail drawings and Web sites for a quick refresher on currently accepted trail construction methods and to help users address specialized problems.

Minnesota DNR's “Trail Planning, Design & Development Guidelines” publication has been posted on the agency's website for free non-commercial download. To find the book and download instructions please refer to the following link and click on either “DNR Books” or “Trails & Waterways.” Because the downloads are password-protected, you'll be prompted for User Name & Password. Contact information is provided online for obtaining this information: www.dnr.state.mn.us/publications/index.html

American Hiking Society offers trail work vacations all over the country and even in some foreign locales. Check this out for a vacation or possibly as a way to get volunteers:  www.americanhiking.org/events/vv/index.html

The National Recreation Trail (NRT) database has been completely redesigned to provide an attractive and efficient means for users to find NRTs: www.nrtdatabase.org

This training course about defensive horse safety provides the basics on how to safely work around pack and saddlestock. The course has nine topics, including grooming, saddling, riding, and transporting stock: www.fs.fed.us/t-d/pubs/flash/fla07672F02/index.htm (Username: t-d, Password: t-d)