Port Alsworth Woodlot Trail Improvements

The National Park Service (NPS) proposes to improve an existing off-road vehicle (ORV) trail to the woodlots near Port Alsworth in Lake Clark National Preserve.

The Port Alsworth area is remote and accessible primarily by aircraft. Wood cutting has occurred in the area since the first prospectors arrived to camp near the mouth of the Tanalian River in the early 1900s. Today, ORVs are used to access firewood resources near the community of Port Alsworth, especially when Lake Clark does not freeze and/or there is not adequate snow cover to use snow machines to access more distant timber resources.

This specific trail segment was designated for ORV use in the 2008 FONSI for the "Management of ORVs near Port Alsworth...EA." (Prior to 2008, the woodlot was accessed exclusively by an existing trail that traversed land now owned by the Tanalian Native Corporation.) The trail exists on the ground, but in an unsustainable and often impassable condition. Current terrain conditions on the access trail are rough and uneven, creating a trail that is unusable by ORVs in the winter months and subjecting the trail to considerable degradation during thaw periods. Trail surface improvements would create a sustainable trail, minimize resource damage, and allow access for subsistence firewood cutting.

Document Content:

Categorical Exclusion Woodlot Trail Improvements_SIGNED.pdf   (99.0 KB, PDF file) Disclaimer: Links within the above document(s) were valid as of the date published. Note: Some of the files may be in PDF format and can be viewed using the Adobe Acrobat Reader software. You may download a free copy of from Adobe Systems.