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Iditarod Historic Trail Alliance, PO Box 2323, Seward AK 99664 http://www.Iditarod100.org IditarodHTA@gmail.com The Iditarod Historic Trail Alliance is an equal opportunity program provider and employer. The Iditarod Historic Trail Alliance promotes awareness of the Iditarod Trail and its gold rush and Alaska Native Heritage by encouraging education programs and historical research, assisting in the protection, improvement, maintenance and marking of the Trail and developing partnerships that foster stewardship, commitments and support. National Trails Day® Historical Timeline October 2,1968 – President Lyndon B. Johnson signs into law the National Trails System Act, establishing national recreational, scenic and historic trails.
October 13, 1976-Formed to give a voice to the national hiking community, American Hiking Society becomes an official organization after receiving its 501c(3) designation and holds its first board meeting. 1988 – National Trails Agenda is initiated as a cooperative venture between the National Park Service and American Trails to look at trail issues and develop recommendations to satisfy America’s current and future need for trails. 1990 – The National Trails Agenda issues a set of recommendations in a report named “Trails for All Americans” that focuses intently on the importance of trails in America. 1991- American Hiking Society in response to the National Trails Agenda report conceives of a program to highlight the importance of the National Trails System and simultaneously advocate for increased trail use and volunteer stewardship.
The program is dubbed National Trails Day and proposes highlighting one day each year to celebrate America’s trails and their use. The day selected was the first Saturday in June. June 5, 1993 – American Hiking Society launches its first ever National Trails Day®. Hundreds of organizations participate around the country. National Trails Day® 2019 The first Saturday of June is always National Trails Day®. For 2019 it will be June 1. Event hosts can choose to observe National Trails Day® on a different date to better suit their program needs, but the majority of events take place the first weekend of June.
To find out how to host an event or find events near you go to: https://americanhiking.org/national-trails-day Comments sought on statewide active transportation plan The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities is holding a virtual-public open house for the Alaska Statewide Active Transportation Master Plan 2019. The purpose of this open house is to provide the public with an opportunity to review the master plan, ask questions, and provide comments to the planning team. The public open house and 45-day comment period started March 18 and concludes May 3.
Visit the website www.akbikeped.com to view the Master Plan, join the email list and make a comment. 1 The Tripod April 2019 The Master Plan is: • A policy document to define future goals, policies and objectives to encourage the creation of a comprehensive bicycle and pedestrian network for the State of Alaska. • A framework to enable the identification of current facilities, needs and an approach to addressing gaps using defined objectives. • An accountability document with specified performance measures, to enable DOT&PF to measure its progress toward achieving the plan's purpose. From the Past… “Iditarod Pioneer” April 13, 1912 DOUBLE VICTORY FOR FLAT TEAMS The third of the series of basketball games now being played between Iditarod and Flat took place at the Arctic Brotherhood Hall, Flat, last Saturday, and resulted in a double victory for the home teams.
When time was called, it was found the scores stood as follows: Ladies- Flat, 12; Iditarod, 6 Men- Flat, 19; Iditarod 17 The success of the Flat ladies’ team was not altogether unexpected. It was well known that they had been practicing assiduously and were determined to wipe out their earlier defeats, and their play showed marked improvement. The Iditarod ladies also played a good game, and still lead in total points, but they will have all their work cut out to keep their position tonight. The results of the men’s game came as a surprise to the visitors, although in this case also the Flat team showed great improvement, and the victory was thoroughly earned. There was a splendid attendance, about 400 being present, and the interest and enthusiasm displayed were even greater than in previous games.
The Flat people were particularly pleased at the double victory, and expert great things from their teams tonight. Warm March Locals enjoyed walking and biking the Iditarod Trail through Seward in March. A lot of sunny days and no snow. Records were set throughout Alaska in March: Deadhorse in Northern Alaska averaged 8 degrees for the month, 23 degrees above normal. Klawock in Southeast hit 70 degrees on March 19, the earliest any Alaska community has reached that temperature. An upriver portion of the Kuskokwim River in Southwest, near the village of Nikoli, broke up on March 31. That’s 10 days earlier than the previous record in 1998. Several sled dog races were canceled or shortened this year due to lack of snow,. Sea ice extent in the Bering Sea for March was the lowest on record. 2