Outdoors/Adventure

Mining firm offers plan that would save Fairbanks ski area

FAIRBANKS -- Freegold Ventures has offered to modify a proposed mining lease to accommodate a popular downhill ski area northeast of Fairbanks, according to the mining company and a spokesman for the ski area.

"We have amended our application to exclude the area licensed for the Skiland downhill area as we understand that the application has caused much concern to both the current owners of Skiland and the community," Kristina Walcott, president and CEO of the Vancouver-based mining company, said Tuesday.

Jeff Fay, a longtime volunteer at Skiland, said Tuesday the decision "made my day."

"It was the response from Freegold that I really hoped we would get," he said. "I feel very positive."

He said Walcott told him the company wants to be a good neighbor to Skiland, which operates mostly on Alaska Mental Health Trust lands on a north-facing slope in the Cleary Summit area. The ski area was established in 1962.

Freegold had proposed to the trust to lease 1,481 acres to add to its extensive existing holdings in the area. For years it has explored the area in an effort to define prospects for gold mining. A trust committee approved the plan this month, with a vote set for November by the full board.

The extended lease would have meant the loss of a few hundred acres that has been licensed to the ski area for its downhill trails. Fay said Walcott told him the company could revise the plan in a way so the ski area would continue.

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Fairbanks has one other commercial downhill ski area, Moose Mountain in the Goldstream Valley.

The trust is a state entity that owns 1 million acres of land and uses its assets to benefit people with mental illnesses, developmental disabilities and substance abuse disorders.

Fay, who began skiing there as a 9-year-old in 1968, has been a volunteer at the property since 1970.

He said he and others are aware of the mission of the trust and regard Skiland as a "vital winter recreation and mental health resource for Interior Alaska."

Dermot Cole

Former ADN columnist Dermot Cole is a longtime reporter, editor and author.

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