Girdwood Trails Committee
Minutes of Regular Meeting
7 pm, Old Library Building
Tuesday, April 4, 2006

The meeting was called to order at 7:10 pm by Vice Chair Norman Starkey.  Kate
Sandberg acted as Secretary for the meeting. 

Present: Norman Starkey, Dario Martinez, Kate Sandberg, Carolyn Brodin, Andy Morrison, Diana Stone Livingston, Alison Rein, Eben Stone, and Matt Wedeking

Approval of Minutes
Minutes from February 7 and March 7, 2006, were approved.

Old Business
1.  Nissman Memorial Update: Alison reported for Carl Skustad that the brackets are being built, two plaques have been ordered, and that the dedication is on National Trails Day, June 3.  Concern was expressed about the inclusion of a fire pit at the memorial, due to fire hazard. The pit will be a formal fire pit and similar to those in the nearby camping area.

2.  Trail Issues
	a.  Alyeska Highway Bridge Repair:  Alison mentioned that the money is secured for the repair this summer. A structural engineer has been hired for the job and repairs will be finished by freeze up. 
	b.  Winner Creek Trail Issues:  On May 18th, the Forest Service will have a large helicopter haul in multiple yards of gravel in bags and place them near the muddied areas of the trail. Over the summer, wheelbarrows will be used to carry the gravel that will fill the most seriously damaged areas. Carl is in charge of this project.
	The Forest Service is also taking out the steps on the far side of the Gorge Bridge and rerouting the trail.
	c.  Other Issues:  The mud on Robbie’s Route remains a concern. It is assumed that a crew from Our Lady of the Snows will take care of the repairs this summer.

3.  Winter Use and Grooming Issues:  Eben Stone brought trail maps to explain his ideas for improving winter use trails. 
Trail improvements are new grooming on Stumpy’s Winter Trail near Glacier
Creek and the first part of the Snowcat Trail, better access on the connector from the hotel parking lot to Moose Meadow, the widening and clearing of stumps on Stumpy’s Winter Trail at the connecting point with Snowcat Trail, and new grooming and a better bridge on Deb’s Way. 
Future bridge improvements are at the connector between hotel parking lot and Moose Meadow (Eben will talk to hotel personnel) and a bridge on Stumpy’s Winter Trail near Winner Creek.
Signage with maps for casual users is also planned. Signs will be simple but tell users which are dog trails and ski trails as well as have maps and trail names.

Eben will clear and build any bridges as well as make the signs this summer. Other Trails Committee members volunteered to help him in any way they can and thanked him for his hard work.
The Committee will map out where the signs/maps should be and their content at the May meeting.

4.  Terrain Suitability Study:  There was a reminder that there is a meeting April 10 on the revision of Girdwood’s Area Plan. The terrain suitability study will be addressed there.

5.  Community Forests Grant:  Information on this is not known. Chad Frank, who was to write the grant, resigned from Parks and Recreation and will take another job.  Alison will follow up on making sure that Girdwood gets a new P & R employee as soon as possible. Hopefully, this person would be full-time.

6.  Permanent Mailbox for Trails Committee: Kate reported there are boxes available at a cost of $44/year. She will email Chad to see how to get the money.

7.  Pack Rafting on Glacier Creek:  Andy repeated his proposal from last month and said that he was in the process of getting a permit from the Municipality. He expects to have five people at a time floating the creek and anywhere between 20-100 people take part this summer. He will be stopping on gravel bars. Concerns were expressed about fish, and Andy will contact Stewart Seeberg (DNR). 

Norman had contacted Stewart about the logjams below the Forest Fair grounds, and Stewart will be looking at these this week for potential removal.

8.  Invasive Plants/Girdwood Valley: Kate reported that the Jonnie Lazarus would like to talk to the Committee about invasive plants and have each member adopt a trail this summer to pull invasive weeds on that trail. Kate will invite her to the May meeting.

9.  Old Library/Glacier City Hall Access: Norman volunteered to make more keys for the Old Library Building so that we are not locked out for future meetings. The Committee thanked Diana for getting our meetings on the Glacier City Hall calendar for emergencies.  If keys are given out to several more members, we will not need the Hall space.

10.  Old Records: Norman recommended storage on CD disks. He will work on these records soon.

New Business
1.  SAGA Crew Planning:  Not addressed due to Chad’s absence.

2.  Gravel Hauler: The Forest Service and Chugach State Park have gravel haulers that the committee may borrow rather than purchase a new one. 

3.  Disk Golf Course:  The materials have arrived, but it is not known what Chad plans for their installation.

4.  Beautification Committee: There still is no chair for this committee. The chair orders, picks up plants, and organizes the watering of flowers for the summer. Dario will call Susan Opalka, the former chair, to find out how he can help.

5.  Easement in Planned Industrial Park: Alison has talked to Art Eash about the public easements to be included in the Industrial Park plat.  The easements will remain in the plat, but the road into the industrial park (Ruane Rd) would need to include additional width for pedestrians unless a suitable alternative to access the Iditarod Trail is established.  Alternatives include building a trailhead near the Forest Service office on HLB land, or using the existing Alaska RR depot area for a trailhead.   

6.  Zipline/Trail Concerns: It appears that the zipline has moved to the Crow Creek Mine area and will not impact the Old Winner Creek Trail. However, the Committee is still concerned about the impact on this trail as planned development of this area goes forward.

Other Business
Alison reported that the Forest Service will have a SAGA crew pulling invasive weeds in late June and wanted to know if the Trails Committee would like the crew for a second week.   If this crew is free of charge, then the Committee would like to have them. If not, then the Forest Fair Committee may be able to pay them and would more likely need their work right before July.

Meeting adjourned approximately 8:30 pm.

Next meeting is May 2, 2006, 6:15-7:00 pm with Invasive Plant class to follow.