A vetoed state program that provides grants for trail grooming and safety projects has issued its’ final round of awards. $236,000 in grants to 17 organizations statewide for this coming winter were announced last week. Alaska Division of Parks and Outdoor Recreation Director Ben Ellis said the grants were issued because the Snow Trac program is funded by snow machine registration fees from the previous year.
“Even though the program will cease after this year, the governor’ office allowed those funds to go to Snow Trac work for this coming snow season,” Ellis said.
This year’s grants include $7,000 for grooming of some popular Fairbanks area trails. Northern region State Parks director Brooks Ludwig said the Snow Trac grants pay for regular grooming of over a hundred miles of trails to public use cabins in the Chena River State Recreation area east of Fairbanks.
”Half a dozen trails that are groomed by a private contractor,” Ludwig said.
Ludwig said loss of Snow Trac grants will mean less maintenance in future winters.
”We’ll probably break trail to get to the cabins, make sure the public use cabins are okay, but there won’t be any regular maintenance going on,” Ludwig said. “It’ll probably be delays after we get heavy snows until what little staff we have can get it there and open the trails back up. But we’ll do our best.”
The final round of Snow Trac grants also includes 9 thousand dollars for the Yukon Quest. The Quest has long used Snow Trac funds for putting in the Alaska portion of the thousand mile sled dog race trail from Fairbanks to Whitehorse.
Trail safety projects funded in the final round of Snow Trac grants, provide for installation of trail markers near the Seward Peninsula village of White Mountain, and avalanche warning signs for popular back-country ski and snow machine areas in the Eastern Alaska Range, Hatcher Pass, on the Kenai and near Valdez.
Dan Bross is a reporter at KUAC in Fairbanks.
