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When the Chugach State Park Trail Management Plan was finished 23 years ago, the park was a different place that could be summed up in one word -- fewer.
Fewer visitors, fewer activities, fewer conflicts, fewer pressures. Today, the trails that officials consider "the most heavily used resource within Chugach State Park" appeal to an array of users year round. Summer visitors use them for hiking, mountain climbing, backcountry cycling, fishing, mountain running, horseback riding, orienteering, kayaking, rafting, ATV riding, paragliding, berry picking, wildlife watching, camping or hunting. Winter may see skiers, snowboarders, snowshoers, snowmobilers, mushers, skijorers, ice boaters, skaters and winter bikers. Some seek solace. Others seek the company of others in organized competitions. Can a park -- even one as large as a half-million acres -- provide for all those uses by both beginners and savvy recreationalists? Last spring, the Division of Parks and Outdoor Recreation began work on a new plan that users throughout Southcentral will be invited to critique at public meetings beginning next week. In it are guidelines for trail management and development for the third largest state park in the country, one rated among 10 best state parks in the country by America's Best Online. As part of this planning effort, the division is working with the municipality to improve access to the park. "It really is a tough thing, putting in new (trails), when we're hard pressed to maintain the ones we have," said Chugach superintendent Tom Harrison. Judging by the 22 pages of comments from last year's scoping sessions collected on the park's Web site, there's plenty to talk about -- communication, planning process, recreation, designation of management units, land acquisition, management and maintenance, trail design, multi-use, specific trails, access, Canyon Road, wildlife and wildlife viewing, trapping and hunting, facilities, public use cabins, campgrounds, education and interpretation, enforcement, funding, fees and more. What do park users want? Plenty. "Update regulations to include winter 'fat tire' cycling on multi-use trails." • "Motorized use and access should remain at current levels or be expanded." • "Concerned that the wilderness nature of the park will be compromised by projects like developed/constructed trails, trail grooming, and hut systems." • "Need more signage for trails that prohibit mountain bikes. Examples: Turnagain Trail and Bird Ridge." • "More loop trails." • "Establish a trail system that circumnavigates Eklutna Lake -- making the west side for non-motorized uses and east side (lakeshore trail) for motorized access." • "A trail from Mount Baldy in Eagle River to Little Peters Creek in Chugiak." • "More and better access to lesser used parts of the park. Examples: South side Rabbit Creek, Ram Valley, Potter Valley, Bear Valley, Grandview, southern side of Peters Creek, Eklutna to Peters Creek, Airport Heights area, and Stuckagain Heights." • "The Board of Game has been progressively opening more and more of Chugach State Park to hunting and trapping and this trend is negative to park values." • "Pave Arctic Valley Road." • "Don't price people out of the park with user fees." And much, much more. In today's economic climate, state park managers will be hard pressed to fund many new trails. But over the last decade private companies such as Alyeska Resort in Girdwood have stepped into the trail-building business. And park managers have found some partnership opportunities that have led to more trails, more access or more terrain. • The Conservation Fund and the Great Land Trust joined with the parks division two years ago to spend $1.2 million on 320 acres that opened access to Rabbit Creek Valley, ending decades of conflict between hikers and Rabbit Creek landowners and opening a direct route to Rabbit Lake. "The Rabbit Creek project is a great beginning to our work to keep Chugach Park open and available to everyone," Jim Stratton, chairman of the Great Land Trust, said at the time. "This is a fantastic start, but there are many more places around the park that need our attention." • A decade ago, five old homesteads in the Peters Creek Valley were purchased by The Conservation Fund and the Richard King Mellon Foundation and transferred to state ownership. The 716-acre parcel, surrounded by the park on all four sides, was the third largest inholding inside Chugach State Park. "This is an important event in the park's history," former superintendent Al Meiners said at the time. Park officials had long hoped to acquire the Peters Creek inholding, which stretches along Peters Creek and its tributary, Four Mile Creek. "It's probably the least known part of the park and just a gorgeous valley," said Brad Meiklejohn, Alaska representative of the Conservation Fund at the time. "It's a strategic parcel for the park.'' The meetings start in Eagle River a week from today.