Trails provide a place for people to exercise, relax and enjoy themselves in the great outdoors. They are now being promoted by supporters in Alaska are focusing on another aspect of trails which is their contribution to the economy.
“When you discuss outdoor recreation. People think”That’s just the kind of enjoyable things we do every day”” Lee Hart, executive director of the Alaska Outdoor Alliance, told the crowd on Thursday at the annual Alaska Trails Conference held in Anchorage. “But the truth is that we’re a part for an economic growth strategy. We are a an integral part of it. We are worthy of being treated with more respect.”
This argument for economics is outlined in Alaska’s most recent outdoor recreation plan, according to Ricky Gease, director of the Alaska Division of Parks and Outdoor Recreation.
The trails conference took place the previous Thursday Gease offered a brief look at his Statewide Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan that is also referred to as SCORP and he stated that it will be made public within about a month once when the National Park Service completes its examination of it.
The SCORP is a document that is issued every five years in order to determine the guidelines for grants that are disbursed by the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund. The fund was created in 1964 by Congress at the time of 1964 utilizes the profits of offshore oil and gas exploration to fund projects in locations that range from national parks in remote locations and wildlife reserves to neighborhood playgrounds. Each state has to produce an annual five-year SCORP in order to be eligible in the grant program of the fund.
The previous SCORP issued by the state placed an emphasis on the needs of young people. The 2023-2027 plan has specific economic goals, including making outdoor recreation an important “cornerstone” in the state’s economy and growing the workforce of outdoor recreation and making use of outdoor recreation to draw and keep business and residents. This goal addresses the state’s current demographic situation. Alaska has experienced 10 consecutive years of net outmigration and, since 2013, its age-based population decreased in a faster rate than any other states.
The new plan contains hard evidence to show that investing in outdoor recreation can yield economic rewards, Gease said in an interview on Friday.
“We deliberately tried to shift away from a purely anecdotal view,” he said.
The trails and the outdoor activities they promote are an important part of Alaska’s otherwise bleak economic picture, he added.
“If you examine the overall performance of our economy over the past decade it’s pretty much stagnated. However, one thing that has seen growth is the sector of outdoor recreation,” he said. “Investing into things that have performed well is a good idea, but people should be thinking about it.”
The capability to utilize hard data within the SCORP is in large part due in part to U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis, which was established in the year 2018 to monitor the outdoors recreation industry’s impact to the national economy and individual state’s economics, Gease said. The most recent BEA report reveals that in 2021, the industry was responsible for 3.6 percent of Alaska’s GDP which is among the highest percentages of the entire country.
Highlighting the economic benefits of trails can assist in attracting money from new sources Gease as well as other speakers said during the three-day event. These make organizations that have economic development mission – like that of the Federal Denali Commission – suitable sources to raise funds needed for matching Land and Water Conservation Fund grants.
It’s an argument that resonates with state legislators also, Gease said. It is true that the Legislature has made significant investment in state parks, according to him, including replacing “iron ranger” fee-collection containers with the ability to pay electronically which frees state employees from the tedious job of collecting and counting coins that have been rolled up and crumpled. In this year’s budget, he explained that the division is looking for funds to construct more public-use cabins and plans for next year to seek funds to improve cabins that are already in use. The top priority for funding is to upgrade parking areas which are often overflowing according to him.
However, the demands are huge and the needs are great, he informed attendees at the conference on trails. State parks department is currently carrying an $85 million backlog of deferred maintenance which has increased over time He said.
Alaska Long Trail economic vision
Making an appeal to the state’s economic legislators are those who support Alaska Long Trail. Alaska Long Trail.
The long-term plan would eventually connect the existing municipal and state parks as well as and the Chugach National Forest and other units of land with trails, creating an unbroken 500-mile trail that runs through the Resurrection Bay shoreline in Seward up to Fairbanks.
The idea has received favorable reception from the Legislature at this point, the advocates claimed at the conference. In the past, lawmakers approved $14.7 million worth of spending for Alaska Long Trail related initiatives however, vetoes by Governor. Mike Dunleavy reduced the approved budget down to $4.2 million.
The requests for this session amount to almost $9.5 million, and include 14 projects, which include some which were rejected last year.
The majority of the work currently underway and work to be planned for the near future will focus on the relatively short connections between trails that are already in use.
One connection that is in the wish list that was that legislators were given is to connect to connect the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail with the Ship Creek Trail in downtown Anchorage.
The plan envisions a cross-section at the city’s boat launch, and the space to be designed in a manner that is respectful of Indigenous tradition, said Beth Nordlund, executive director of the Anchorage Park Foundation. The plan could include Indigenous signs in the language, as well as other amenities, Nordlund told conference attendees. It is the Anchorage Park Foundation hopes to bring together a variety of sources of funding such as foundation grants to turn the idea into real. The park currently has a sculpture as well as other exhibits in honor of Olga Nikolai Ezi, one of Dena’ina’s most prominent women in the local story of.
In general, there is the local community’s support of these kinds of trails, according to Nordlund she cited the park’s approval by voters in the recent municipal election. bonds in the most recent Anchorage city election. “Anchorage certainly loves its trails, and we’ll keep choosing municipal bonds locally,” the woman said.
In addition to state and local funding, Alaska Long Trail advocates have sought out the federal government to provide support.
Improvements and trail-related projects along the corridor have already obtained about $11 million of Congress appropriations in the last two years. And there are plans for $7.55 millions in funds for the upcoming fiscal year, according to Mariyam Medovaya who is the project coordinator for the Alaska Trails Initiative The non-profit which is in charge of the planning to build the Alaska Long Trail.
One of the things that was covered by the omnibus budget bill, which was approved in December, is a million-dollar Bureau of Land Management feasibility study on whether there is a chance that Alaska Long Trail could qualify as one of the designated National Scenic Trails. This study could take between two and three years Medovaya said.
There are just 11 trails listed She said.
“It is a dream to see it were the case that Alaska Long Trial joined those ranks,” she said. “It will open the door to additional federal funds. This is an important benefit.”
This article first appeared in Alaska Beacon and is republished here with permission.
