Historic Iditarod trail route in dispute

WASILLA — A lawsuit involving public access to a portion of the historic Iditarod Trail that pits two Big-Lake-area property owners against the State of Alaska will likely last until early February.

An Anchorage judge will decide a civil lawsuit filed by Kelly Dickson and Donna Defusco against the state, the Department of Natural Resources, and other unknown people who might try to claim a right-of-way access to their land in the future. The 2012 lawsuit involves two pieces of property near the intersection of Moore and Burma Roads, in the rural area south of Big Lake, east of Knik-Goose Bay Road, and north of Point Mackenzie.

According to legal briefs provided by state officials, Defusco and Dickson are sisters, and daughters of Benjamin Cowart, who homesteaded in the area in 1958 and received a federal patent on the land in 1962. Defusco and Dickson’s attorneys contend in a trial brief that the state has no right to claim two rights-of-way, including a portion of the 1912 historic Iditarod trail (labeled the Knik to Susitna Trail by the state, and RS 118 by Defusco and Dickson) and a road roughed out in 1958 by bush pilot Chuck Sassara.

Defusco and Dickson argue that the rights of way don’t exist. The historic Iditarod Trail easement already exists along Moore Road, at the north end of their property, according to court documents.

The state relies on Revised Statute 2477, a law passed in 1866, which granted right-of-way to states and county-level government across federal land when building highways. Congress repealed the law in 1976, but allowed for rights-of-way established under 2477 but before the Federal Land Policy and Management Act took effect to continue forward, according to the Bureau of Land Management and court filings.

Defusco and Dickson’s brief argues the historic Iditarod Trail claim can’t be proven because the course of the trail can’t be definitively proved. Because the course of the trail can’t be determined, they argue, the state can’t claim it.

“For RS 118, the State argues early homesteaders used the abandoned Alaska Road Commission route and that the trail shifted from the location mapped by the ARC to cross the property,” the brief reads in part. “The State can’t accurately locate the trails these early homesteaders used, let alone locate them across the property.”

The second right-of-way, the Homestead Road, also does not exist, attorneys for Dickson and Defusco argue, because though Sassara constructed a road across public land before Cowart claimed it, its use was not widespread.

“Even if it ‘Homestead Road,’ crossed (Cowart’s property), any use by Sassara would have occurred (at most) for mere weeks prior to Cowart’s entry,” the brief reads. “Infrequent use does not satisfy the acceptance burden.”

Any use would have been considered trespassing by the owners, and attempts to block both the historic Iditarod Trail have gone unchallenged by the state in the past, according the brief. And Defusco and Dickson’s attorneys argue the State can’t claim the Homestead Road, because past State employees had stated as much in 1986 and 2008, when the property owners sought confirmation from the state that the route was unauthorized.

The state wants to use the rights-of-way to allow public access to the trails.

The state argues the historic trail was used as part of early short-distance dogsled races held prior to the 1973 long-distance modern Iditarod. Use continued along the RST 118 route starting in 1973, and shifted in the 1980s only after Cowart blocked the original route.

“As to RST 118, the State will show that the Alaska Road commission constructed the route as a portion of the Seward-to-Nome route (the historic Iditarod Trail) in 1912, and that this portion was identified by the ARC as route 20-A,” the state’s brief reads. “In 1921, ARC stopped spending money on maintenance on Route 20-A, but the route continued to be used by the public.”

The Homestead Road claim also remains intact, because Sassara constructed before the property in question became private, according to the state’s brief. And state attorneys argue that the 2008 letter that led Dickson to block the road is nonbinding because it was based in part on false information provided by Dickson.

“In 2008, Dickson sought confirmation that Homestead Road was an unauthorized route, and she falsely represented to State employees that her father, Cowart, built Homestead Road after he acquired his homestead,” the brief reads. “A state employee correctly confirmed that Homestead Road is not part of RST 118, but Cowart did not build Homestead Road so the DNR employee was mistaken about whether the road could be blocked.”

Use of the road by mushers, skiers, hikers, and other users diminished but did not stop following the 2008 blocking of the trail, according to the brief.

Testimony in the case, which is being decided by Judge Catherine Easter, is expect to last until at least Feb. 8, according to state officials. Easter will hear closing arguments and read draft decisional document from either side before presenting a judgment, officials said.

The historic trail was used heavily to travel between Seward, Interior Alaska, and Nome during the late 1890s and early 1900s. Its route differs from that of the Iditarod race trail, which begins in Willow and partially follows the historic trail. The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, which was founded by Mat-Su residents Joe Redington Sr. and Dorothy Page, was created to revive sled dog culture in Native villages and commemorate the historic nature of the old Iditarod Trail.

Contact reporter Brian O’Connor at 352-2270, brian.oconnor@frontiersman.com, or on Twitter @reporterbriano.