FAIRBANKS, Alaska (KTUU/KTVF) – The Isberg Recreation Area, owned and managed by the Fairbanks North Star Borough (FNSB), is nearly doubling in size thanks to a 309-acre donation from the Interior Alaska Land Trust.
First beginning discussions over the winter, “Interior Alaska Land Trust called us to ask to set up a meeting because they had this parcel. It was adjacent to the existing Isberg Rec. Area,” said Tom Hewitt, the special assistant to the borough mayor. “We could see that there was some alignment between the Land Trust’s vision of protecting this land for recreational outdoor use, both non-motorized and motorized, and also the boroughs adjoining recreation area that served very much the same purpose.”
He explained that the Interior Alaska Land Trust had been managing the area for the last few years, acquiring the area as a part of a private purchase.
The donation of 309 acres will nearly double the size of the borough managed recreation area that “is in the 325-to-350-acre range,” Hewitt said.
Both the new donation and the existing recreation area are located on Chena Ridge off of Cripple Creek Road. “This adds to the north and east of the existing iceberg recreation area,” Hewitt said.
He said the Isberg Recreation Area is “pretty well used,” primarily by residents in the surrounding area. This includes skiing, mushing, snow machining and other forms of trail use as the area is comprised of both non-motorized and multi-purpose trails. That includes the parcels that have been donated by the Interior Alaska Land Trust.
According to Hewitt, the trails are maintained by volunteers which means the expansion of the recreation area will not result in any additional costs to property taxpayers. “It’s what we call passive management and its residents and volunteers in the area who do the hard work of maintaining those trails and we’re really grateful to them for that because it really allows us to have a community asset without a lot of expense on the part of everybody around the borough.”
With new borough ownership however, the FNSB will ensure the land is not used for purposes beyond designated zoning. “I think long term there might be some development that gets done in terms of adding more access points, but that’s not something that’s even in the plans for right now,” Hewitt said.
He added that the donation and expansion of the recreation area helps the borough continue to prepare “for the future when a lot more of these areas are developed, but we want to still have these kind of corridors where people can recreate close to home.”
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