Would the proposed Alaska Long Trail from Seward to Fairbanks be suitable as a National Scenic Trail?
Not exactly, according to a draft study recently completed by the Bureau of Land Management.
The BLM has been digging into the question since 2023, under direction from Congress, and on March 13, the agency released a draft of the feasibility study for a 30-day public comment period.
Charlie Ebbers is a public affairs specialist with the BLM. He said the draft doesn’t entail any final decisions, and the BLM doesn’t have control over whether the proposed route ultimately earns the National Scenic Trail designation. That power lies with Congress.
“We’d like folks to read what we found and to add anything they think is pertinent that we may have missed,” he said. “And we will take all that information, and we will roll it up, and we will send it to the Secretary of Interior. The Secretary of Interior will decide whether to move that up to Congress.”
For its part, the study looks to evaluate the proposed 500-mile route against a series of objectives, outlining the desirability as well as physical and financial viability of labeling it a National Scenic Trail.
Gaining that official label, according to federal law, means trail management aims to maximize outdoor recreation potential and conserve nationally significant natural or cultural qualities along a given route.
The draft feasibility study says the proposed route meets or partially meets eight of the nine objectives, falling short when it comes to approval of all relevant landowners.
“There were segments along the way that people were really excited about, and there were segments along the way where people weren’t necessarily interested in having a long trail cross,” Ebbers said.
In the Fairbanks area, the idea has received widespread support, including resolutions or letters in favor of the trail from the Fairbanks North Star Borough Assembly, Explore Fairbanks, and multiple recreationist organizations.
But the Ahtna Native Corporation submitted a letter to the BLM opposing the Alaska Long Trail, saying it would exacerbate trespass due to the section that would run through their lands in the southern part of Alaska’s Interior. The proposed route currently does not have a way to bypass those lands.
In turn, the draft feasibility study states there is not currently a suitable end-to-end route from Seward to Fairbanks to be named a National Scenic Trail. But the study indicates that two shorter segments – from Seward to Ahtna Land and from Ahtna land to Fairbanks – would fulfill all the objectives.
The feasibility study does not have direct bearing on whether the route from Seward to Fairbanks backed by nonprofit Alaska Trails gets built. Instead, the document examines how the proposal matches up with federal guidelines describing what makes a National Scenic Trail.
Currently, there are 11 National Scenic Trails in the United States, and the last year a trail earned that designation was in 2009.
Whether the Alaska Long Trail becomes the 12th remains undecided. The final day to send in public comment on the BLM’s draft feasibility study is April 14.