The Nordic skiing community of Anchorage should be proud of the contributions made over the years. Since the implementation of the Proposition 23 Tax Cap in January of 1984, the Nordic Skiing Association of Anchorage has funded all cross-country ski trail winter maintenance on the soft surface trails in Anchorage through a voluntary user fee. By park rules 5% of this fee has been returned to the city each year since 1987, totaling over $100,000. From 1976 to 1984 the trail grooming was funded by the city. Prior to 1976 volunteer club members did all grooming. The Nordic Skiing community has also funded a large majority of the summer maintenance and improvements to these trails at Kincaid Park, Hillside Park, Far North Bicentennial Park, Bartlett HS, and APU/UAA. During the past 30 years the Nordic Community has hosted 25 national and international cross-country ski events in Anchorage. These events have generated millions of dollars of economic activity in Anchorage.
Annual Winter Maintenance - Each winter (October through April) the Nordic Skiing Association grooms over 100 km of cross-country ski only trails and 20 km of multi use trails. The multi use trails are for walking, running, dog walking, skijoring, and horseback riding. Cross-country skiers are asked to donate to a trail-grooming fund. Last year a budget of $200,000 collected from skiers and contracts for racing funded all maintenance programs. Approximately 2000 trail pin donors paid for the winter and summer maintenance for all trail users. The MOA estimates there are about 60,000 people who cross-country ski in Anchorage. During the past twenty years the skiing association has spent approximately $2,200,000 for winter maintenance.
Annual Summer Maintenance &endash;Each summer the Nordic Skiing Association cuts and removes dead and downed trees, maintains gardens, cuts brush, and mows the grass on over 120 km of soft surface trails. This is the only maintenance done on soft surface trails. The work is done by volunteers from the Nordic community and NSAA staff and was valued at about $20,000 this year. During the past 20 years approximately $275,000 has been spent for summer maintenance.
Trail Construction and Improvements &endash; During the years 1984-2003 Nordic Ski Groups have completed trail construction and improvement projects valued at $3,400,000. These projects include ski trail and facility design, development, construction, lighting, signing, mapping, and gardens. Prior to 1984, most trail development was accomplished by volunteers using hand tools and occasionally donated heavy equipment. A complete history of the Nordic trail developments is available on the NSAA website.
For other information of Nordic ski and soft surface trails look at:
1. Nordic ski association web page- http://www.anchoragenordicski.com/
2. Club Survey Results &endash; http://www.anchoragenordicski.com/
3. Craciun Survey Results - http://www.home.gci.net/~southtrail/surveys/Craciun%20Survey.htm
4. Anchorage Parks Natural Open Space Survey results &endash; http://www.muni.org/planning/prj_ParksPlan.cfm
Note from Bjarne Holm - Deleted from this page are the tabulated date showing a chronological list of projects, which have been completed by NSAA and other related groups and individuals. Formatting of tabulated data gets scrambled when transferring from one software system to another. Contact Jim and Sally Burkholder for the complete document.