Fairbanks Snow Travelers

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game is interested in contacting members of the public who have knowledge about, or a history of use, of 2 specific trails in the Broad Pass/Summit Lake area southwest of Cantwell. BLM previously requested easement nominations for lands to be conveyed to AHTNA and the Village of Cantwell under provisions of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, and has received numerous proposals from the public and government agencies for easement reservations across the proposed conveyances. BLM & ADF&G are not looking for new proposals at this time.

The purpose of this information request is to get notarized affidavits regarding use of the trails to support the nomination of these, and potentially other trails in the area for reservations as public easements. Sometimes the ability to provide such documentation can make the difference between a proposed easement being reserved or rejected. Also, in the case of an easement reserved by BLM being contested by the village or regional corporation, affidavits of use can be helpful in fighting off the challenge to the easement reservation. ADF&G would like to get a head start on documenting public use in case affidavits are needed.

At this time, the two trails of particular interest to ADF&G are depicted on the attached map. (A .pdf version of this map in a higher resolution form can be sent at your request, I kept the file small to not bog down your mail box) The “names” associated with the trails on the map are the designations used in the BLM 17(b) easement process, not necessarily the familiar names used by locals or frequent users. The trails are labeled “5h D1, L” and “104 L”. BLM’s notation system uses numbers and letters in combination to denote the easement number and the sponsor or sponsors who submitted the easement request. The presence of an “L” in the notation stands for the General Public, so I assume that there was input from members of the general public for both.

To view a map showing all the easements proposed for the area, and the location of the land being conveyed go to http://www.blm.gov/pgdata/etc/medialib/ ... nt_Map.jpg

Please show this request to your membership and if any members have use information or questions have them contact me at stanley.walker@alaska.gov or 907-267-2329. After November 1, 2009 they should contact jason.cheney@alaska.gov or 907-267-2300. If you have suggestions of other user groups that could possibly provide input please contact one of us as well. Also, if you have information on other trails that we are not working on yet and would like to be contacted in the future, please send Jason Cheney an email at the address above.