By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Staff Writer
A variety of projects now underway around Sitka to enhance outdoor recreation for locals and visitors alike were described to an online Chamber of Commerce audience Wednesday.
Close to town, the U.S. Forest Service plans to restore parts of the Starrigavan watershed this summer, Sitka District Ranger Perry Edwards said.
The wide-ranging project will involve stream rerouting, trail repair, and even new trail construction.
“Quickly we realized we should look at that watershed as a whole, trying to figure out what else we can do there,” Edwards said. “And so based on our own folks and some public involvement we came up with ideas on taking the ridge trail, which is a user created trail, very steep in places and has some erosion and sedimentation problems, the Eagle Dip Lake trail, another user created trail, and try to get those into better conditions.”
The newest section of the Sitka Cross Trail, at the intersection of No Name Creek, is pictured today. When the section of trail is complete the Cross Trail will span from Indian River to Starrigavan. Plans for developing trails were the topic at Wednesday’s Chamber of Commerce virtual meeting. From Sitka, District Ranger Perry Edwards and Sitka Trail Works Executive Director Lynn Brandon spoke. Lee Hart from the Alaska Outdoor Alliance, an Anchorage organization that advocates for outdoor recreation, also spoke. (Sentinel Photo by James Poulson)
The final Environmental Assessment for the project, published March 17, details plans to reconstruct 1,000 feet of stream channel, build coho rearing ponds, build new single track bicycle trails, and more.
Edwards added that the Forest Service plans to connect the Starrigavan Valley trails to the back end of the Gavan-Harbor Mountain trail.
Other Forest Service projects include repairs to Starrigavan’s artesian well and repair work on the Kruzof Island road system. Responding to a question from the public, Edwards noted the Forest Service doesn’t have plans now in the Katlian Bay watershed once the road to the area is done.
“There are some real challenges… insofar as building any kind of trails that go up that stream system,” he said. “The Katlian Bay stream system has a lot of alluvial fans where there is a lot of rock movement coming down that hill and it would be very difficult to keep those trail segments on the hillside.”
The Forest Service is also finalizing a land swap with the Alaska Mental Health Trust to allow for a rerouting of the Gavan Hill trail, Edwards said.
He highlighted the role of outdoor recreation in attracting visitors.
“We try to make something ... that is a great experience, but we don’t turn it into Disneyland. Because they are coming here to see a wild Alaska,” the ranger said.
Speaking for the nonprofit Alaska Outdoor Alliance, Lee Hart also stressed the economic benefits of a robust outdoors industry. The Alliance is an Anchorage based group that advocates for outdoor recreation opportunities that promote economic development.
“The bottom line is recreation is an economic multiplier and it is also an economic equalizer in that urban areas and rural areas both benefit when you have a strong access to outdoor recreation, as well as industries supporting that,” Hart said.
Hart noted that, like other industries, outdoor recreation business requires sound infrastructure.
“Outdoor recreation infrastructure is critical infrastructure,” Hart said. “The pandemic has proven that to us… We have infrastructure needs too, boats have harbors and planes have airports. For people, in the way they interact in a human way with our spaces, we need our infrastructure, which is trails and huts and boat ramps. That is so essential to the physical and mental wellbeing of our residents, but also providing for businesses.”
Sitka Trail Works Executive Director Lynne Brandon announced that new sections of Sitka’s Cross Trail are nearing completion.
“It’s a 2.6-mile total trail distance, and we’ve got 1.8 miles done,” Brandon said. “We started in December of 2019, so we only have two-tenths of a mile, and a bridge over No Name Creek to complete what I call the main line.” The remaining six-tenths of a mile will connect to the cruise ship dock at Old Sitka, which she said will link visitors to the local trail network.
“When we get 400,000 visitors in a year, there will be opportunities to get people dispersed over the trail system and enjoying the outdoors,” she said.
Brandon stressed the social importance of a sound trail system, particularly during the pandemic. She said the Cross Trail “is heavily used during lunch when people can get on it from their house – which is a wonderful aspect of the Cross Trail – and visit during the lunch hour. A lot of people run into each other on the trail and have social times, and of course during COVID we have our distance that we need to have.”
Brandon described the Cross Trail as “the backbone of our whole trail system. We’ve just been so tickled at how successful the Cross Trail has been.”
Plans already are afoot for further expansion of the trail once the current segment is finished.
“We’re currently applying for money for the Price-Highland neighborhood. That will run from the Indian River trailhead, have a bridge across (the river) and then run to the end of Price Street,” Brandon said. “And after that we’re working with the Forest Service… to reroute the Verstovia trailhead and the trail itself to get it off of private property.” She anticipated that project getting underway in 2024.
Speaking for the Sitka Conservation Society, Executive Director Andrew Thoms highlighted SCS’ work improving outdoor recreation opportunities around town.
“This past year during COVID we partnered with the City of Sitka and fielded a transitional employment crew, a Community Conservation Corps... We put people to work that were generally laid off from the tourism sector to work on the ground on city land improving the facilities in Goddard, doing trail work, putting benches in, doing clean ups,” Thoms said.
“We work to conserve the natural environment of the Tongass and support the development of sustainable communities in Southeast Alaska,” Thoms said. “So we work to conserve the resources we all depend on here, whether that’s salmon or an immense forest or timber resources from the Tongass or the fact that this is a great place to get out… We have people who come from all over the world to be here. So we try to tell the story of what this place is, how we live here, what the people are like here, and tell the story of how we know it here in Sitka,” he said.
Trail Works Executive Manager Ben Hughey outlined plans for a new trail system in the area around Goddard, where the hot springs facilities have been repaired in recent months.
“The South Sitka Sound Coastal Trail is an idea that has been in the works actually for a couple decades. It first came up in the 2003 trail plan process… and it offers some really tremendous potential to attract independent travelers and another compelling destination for small cruise ship travel,” Hughey said.
The proposed trail network would include several loops between Goddard and Redoubt Lake.
The Chamber of Commerce meets again at noon next Wednesday to hear a legislative update from Sitka’s Sen. Bert Stedman.
