By Jessica Edwards
If you’ve hiked or snowshoed the Battery Point trail in recent
months, you likely noticed significant upgrades at the trailhead.
You may also have taken note of new signs featuring a compass rose logo
with a stylized "S" in the center on the Mount Ripinsky and Mount Riley trails.
The changes are connected. Both upgrades – the $14,500 in trail
improvements at Battery Point, and signs linking and branding local trails as part of a
regional trail system – were orchestrated by SEAtrails, a non-profit organization
established in 2003 to promote independent adventuring in Southeast Alaska.
"It’s not just a hiking network," said Haines resident
and second-year SEAtrails board member Annie Boyce. SEAtrails are biking, canoeing,
kayaking, SCUBA diving, and cultural walking routes, as well as marine routes linking
Southeast communities.
Trail maintenance and promotion efforts similar to those at Battery
Point and Mount Ripinsky are occurring in19 Southeast communities that belong to the
SEAtrails network. In 2004, over $119,000 in grant money was dispensed in 10 SEAtrails
communities for trail improvements, and the organization begins a second round of grant
awards this year.
With a new business and marketing plan authored by Juneau’s
McDowell Group in the final draft phase, the organization now hopes to realize its
self-stated mission: to "facilitate planning, promotion, maintenance, and
construction of a region-wide Southeast Alaska trail system that will stimulate economic
development, enhance quality of life, and improve transportation."
To reach these goals, SEAtrails is working to form partnerships with
myriad agencies, including Alaska Department of Transportation, state Parks and
Recreation, the U.S. Forest Service, municipal governing bodies, and local chambers of
commerce and visitors’ bureaus – in short, the cooperation of groups invested in
promoting independent tourism in Southeast.
SEAtrails’ overall marketing strategy is to link communities in
Southeast by a system of trails, and to promote the trails as destination connected by the
marine highway system, primarily through its recently updated website. The site also gives
the potential traveler an idea of the sorts of camping, lodging, eating, shopping, and
cultural activities available in each community.
The McDowell Group’s research concluded that the Internet was
"the primary access point for independent travelers planning trips," Boyce said,
and needed to function as a centralized and easily accessible repository of basic
information about what to do and how to get there.
"It’s an inviting initial way to find a community, a way to
get started," said Boyce. "It’s not meant to be exhaustive." She said
contact numbers on the website allowed travelers to call a local person in the know for
more information.
"(The website) takes the knowledge and expertise of people living
locally and compiles it," said Boyce. "We hope they want to share it…in a
way that doesn’t degrade it but promotes and sustains it."
Nine sample itineraries, including two based in Haines, give potential
travelers a taste and timeline for the possibilities in an area.
The specifics of each trip, including where to stay, eat, shop, rent
gear, etc., is left up to the traveler, making for strong potential connections between
the SEAtrails website and local chambers of commerce and visitor’s bureaus.
Haines Chamber of Commerce vice president Greg Schlachter said pursuing
trail networks and new trails would benefit residents as well as enhance quality of life
through health and recreation opportunities. A local advocacy group for multi-use trails
was in the process of forming, he said, following the model of community groups in Juneau
and Sitka.
Such a local trail advocacy group would be eligible to apply for
SEAtrails grant money for trail enhancement, restoration, or reconstruction.
Schlachter said that linking and promoting trails within Haines could
help promote it as a tourist destination. "Folks go to Whitehorse because of an event
and stay longer because of the trails," Schlachter said. "If the trails in
Haines are connected…by signs and ads, it would enhance public awareness of the
trails.
For more information about SEAtrails, view the website
www.seatrails.org.
