Governor dedicates two Mat-Su trails

MAT-SU -- Gov. Tony Knowles was in Wasilla last week to bring those attending the first annual trails symposium up to speed on a few trails projects Knowles has been overseeing throughout his tenure, and to dedicate two trails in Mat-Su.

Knowles, after speaking of the various benefits trails bring to community members, dedicated the Crooked Lake Trail and a portion of the Iron Dog Trail, both winter trails west of the Big Lake area.

"We've established some great trails here in the Mat-Su Valley," Knowles said. "What a great change it's been."

The dedication marks the first-ever culmination of a project between the Mat-Su Borough and the state of Alaska. The two entities worked cooperatively to reserve public access for recreation use across state, borough and private lands.

It's a process that is yet in its infancy and, because many trails in Alaska are similar to those recently dedicated, Department of Natural Resources employee Jim Renkert, who worked on the project, said it's likely the method used by the state and borough in this instance will serve as a model for many other trail dedications.

"There are literally hundreds of trails in Alaska," Renkert said. "They physically exist, they're taken for granted that they are our trails -- but, as land gets divided [the trail ownership gets fractured]."

Renkert explained that many trails have been in use since the land had a single owner -- often just the state. Over the years, land has been sold to private individuals, deeded to the Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority or otherwise carved into areas of separate ownership.

And unless the use of the land as a trail is reserved at the time of transfer from one entity to another, Renkert said, it's possible that use may be lost forever, such as in the case of a portion of the historic Iron Dog trail just off Big Lake. It's not easy to convince property owners, Renkert explained, that a trail use is more important than prime lakefront real estate.

And so the push to dedicate trails before land ownership further fractures is great. According to borough manager John Duffy at the time of the dedication signing, this dedication of trails is far from being the last.

"This is just the beginning, my friends," Duffy said.