Arctic Offroad Forums

So these trails are in danger of being taken away. Not all of them but a good chunk of them. The borough school board put a proposal in last week to the borough for some land to build a new school in NP due to over crowding of the schools. The school would be at Repp and Holowell. But then along with that the plan involved creating a subdivision in the rest of the area. It doesn't go all the way tot he pipeline or to the peede entrance but does involve a lot of the land there. The paper work I got didn't have a map. I took a picture with my phone and will upload the two plans they had. The plan is to leave the Chena Lowlands trail there with a parking area. But they see this trail as mostly winter use to get to the river and go to CHSR and such. Not much is out about this since it was just proposed. I will keep an eye on the borough website for it to pop up and meetings about it. IN the meantime you can be contacting the land management office about it to put in your comments. The contact info I got is : Kristin Machacek (907) 459-1245 kmachacek@co.fairbanks.ak.us

Here is one pic of a map. Took them with the phone and they didn't come out very well. The other one is in my gallery.Repp is at the bottom. Brock is at the left and holowell is at the right where the school is.



633ACRES!!! To give you an idea 1 square mile is equal to 640 acres

there is plenty of land over by browns hill quarry .. bourough could buy that up instead !

Comment period ends 7 October 2011

See here for details on contacting them

http://co.fairbanks.ak.us/landmanagement...nation.htm

I sent an email asking for a chance to oppose it via vote.

Emailed comments

Do you use the coment sheet?

Sure. I had already sent in an email or two.

Email sent.

Emailed and complained.

Good work guys. Tomorrow is the deadline. Also banner creek area is up for nomination. Not that something will happen out there but it is on the list.

this really irritates me. Its almost like they KNOW of the OHV RS2477 trails that are accessible and are determined to build on them. what is the build site called up at BANNER?

sent mine

sent another email. im frustrated to see the "trend" of building on rs2477 trails. honestly. wtf.
my email was not vulgar and did not speak as a rep. for A/O .
I havent gotten any responses yet. has anyone? I really feel like the little guy left out here complaining about this. Am I the only one who feels this way?

I don't think anyone will respond.The rs status protects nothing & Mel posted up last year that it doesn't even allow access that can harm tree root systems....progress closes everything.This is why we need to work on keeping access...we need to align with existing trail groups like The Interior Trails Preservation Coalition. I was wondering the other day about organizations that lease land...which the FNSB does....could something like that help contain access to trails. I may try to chat about that with the mayor tonight....

Here is some expert advice from Eric Troyer, Interior trails:

I'm glad you guys commented. At this point I think that's all you can really do. Then you need to keep an eye on the Borough Land Management Department for their final recommendations. They should contact you since you commented, but I wouldn't totally leave it up to them. Find out when the recommendations are due, then put a reminder to yourself somewhere (electronic calendars are good) to check if you haven't heard within a week of the due date.

Another option you guys have is to try to get that land (or elsewhere) set aside for a four-wheel-drive recreation area. It would be good to have a place like that up here because of all the enthusiasts. Borough parks and rec might be open to such an idea, but they've got several projects on their plate right now, so pushing it forward would be up to you guys. (Then again, maybe all you would need to do is have the Borough Land Management Department label the land as recreational. Maybe you wouldn't need to get parks involved at all. I suppose that would probably be a borough government decision).

Great advice. Almost sounds like the same advice he gave some if us before. We went to the tails meeting and borough land meeting and suggested just that. With no results. But mainly due to us, off roaders, not following through. It really does fall upon us. The biggest thing is getting all the clubs to work together and having a group like AOAA on our side. Which a dew influential people are liking AOAA right now. I want to really push for all the clubs to work together o. This and other land land issues. Hopefully we can.

A little off topic but something to put out there for when the time comes to announce my concerns, I like the idea of an offroad park, but then again I do not like the idea of limiting our area of offroad use to just that. I like trails because I like exploring Alaska, not just one "fun area".

I also hope that AOAA can help bring clubs together on maintaining access to offroad use. We need help, we really do. First thing I see is that we need a voice and we need to know where to say it to affectively deliver our needs and desires, and most importantly our rights.

My jury is still out on AOAA...
Oh, and I think an offroad park isn't a "lock in" but rather a protection...

Here is the issue with AOAA. We née involvement. It's the same issue as seeing us shut out and others. Ive heard so many people say they are goin to wait an see what happens with it. Well within will happen with that attitude from so many. I've seen what this group can do when people support it.

AOAA is acting like FAO did. Meetings set then just evaporate, then pop up last minute....that never gains momentum....& I noted that the meeting didn't even start on time. I have no time to waste on a group that can't even show up.

You can't put FAO and AOAA in the same category. And personally i dint care about how FAO conducts business as this isnt about them. AOAA is trying to start up. It's not going to be perfect. We have had meetings and only the same the few people show up. It can't gain momentum if people sit back and do nothing. I see this same attitude in land use from many around here and other places. This is a chance to get a bigger voice but obviously some don't want that.

A united voice is more influential than your single voice. I really hope you change your mind. I also hope that others don't follow this thinking and actions. In the long run it will hurt us as it as hurt many other places before.

I can see both of your points on this, The adhavic timeing of the meeting will not help get this going.
But people still need to show up to support AOAA to get it off the ground.