A sign marks the area near where the proposed West Su Access road project would start. (Photo courtesy of Susitna River Coalition)
The Denali Commission, a federal agency based in Anchorage, is known for funding mundane infrastructure upgrades in rural Alaska. Think waste management, heating systems and broadband — critical though not exactly attention-grabbing stuff.
But a new project on the agency’s funding list is now drawing an unusual level of scrutiny.
The commission is set to grant some $100,000 to Friends of West Susitna, a nonprofit formed in 2022 to advocate for the West Susitna Access Project.
That project is a state-proposed industrial road through the wilds northwest of Anchorage that would help mining companies reach remote deposits and open up large areas of public land for recreation. The effort has the support of Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s administration and pro-development groups, but it faces vocal opposition from some lodge owners, sportsmen and conservation organizations.
The federal funding was recommended in October and isn’t yet finalized. It’s solely for maintaining a handful of backcountry winter trails near the remote hamlet of Skwentna, close to the proposed road’s halfway point; it is not intended to boost the state’s industrial project, according to Denali Commission officials.
But because Friends of West Susitna’s mission is to support a state-funded access road, and because it has ties to some of the resource development companies that could benefit from that road, the federal grant has prompted new concerns among skeptics of the larger industrial proposal.
In addition to its Denali Commission application, Friends of West Susitna has also proposed expanding a 42-mile winter trail along a route that’s similar to the one suggested for the mining road by the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, or AIDEA, the state agency leading the development project.
The nonprofit’s trail proposal, now under review by state land managers, drew swift pushback last fall from a handful of local property owners and a regional environmental group concerned that the winter trail would help lay the groundwork for an industrial road.
“My phone blew up immediately,” said Melis Coady, director of the Susitna River Coalition, a nonprofit that’s opposed to the state project. “Before I had even read my own email, people were like, ‘This is fishy as hell.’”
Road opponents point out that Friends of West Susitna is funded in part by Nova Minerals, an Australian company searching for gold, antimony, and other minerals near the end of the proposed haul road. The nonprofit’s chair, Cindi Herman, owns Skwentna Roadhouse, a local business that spent $55,000 last year lobbying in Juneau in support of the road project and of mining in the region.
The stir over Friends of West Susitna’s winter trail work marks the latest conflict in a long-running debate over increasing access to the wild region west of the Susitna River — a major waterway that starts high in the Alaska Range and flows south into Cook Inlet, some 25 miles west of Anchorage.
The land to the west of the river is mostly state-owned forest and mountains that’s thought to be rich in gold, coal, and other resources. But it’s also treasured for its remote qualities by big game hunters, sport fishermen, guides and dog mushers.
Those competing values are driving the current tensions over the possibility of road construction and industrial development.
State and local officials, resource development companies, and many Susitna Valley residents have been pushing for years to build an industrial road across the river and into the region, promoting the area’s potential to stimulate economic growth through mining, logging and other industries.
“This is a strategic area, close to Alaska’s biggest population workforce,” said Rod Arno, a board member of Friends of West Susitna and public policy director at the Alaska Outdoor Council, a separate nonprofit that supports hunting, fishing and other forms of recreation and public land access.
“We know the resources are there,” he said.
Extracting those resources could pave the way for more recreation opportunities, like fish ing, hunting, berry picking, skiing and snowmachining — “the reason folks live in Alaska,” Arno said.
“It’s important for the state’s economy, and it’s important for Alaskans to get outdoors,” he added.
Opponents say the road project, and future mines that could benefit from it, could threaten salmon runs and mar the wild character of the landscape.
Mike Williams, who owns and lives on an off-grid peony farm less than a mile from the proposed road’s route, said he has mixed feelings about the project. He said he understands the benefits that could come with it, but he’s concerned about how it would affect nearby property owners and wildlife.
“Those that are over here — primarily, overwhelmingly in my opinion — are here because there is no road,” he said. “Once the road is in, that’s the end of this wilderness of west Susitna. It’s over.”
Williams said he sees Friends of West Susitna’s winter trail maintenance proposal as a subtle way to advance the state road project by justifying use of the same route. He questions whether there is already a trail where the group is now proposing to widen one: Prior to a one-day snowmachine race last year, he said, the trail didn’t exist.
The nonprofit’s application to state land managers asks for a public easement for the group to widen an existing 5-foot-wide trail to 18 feet. That would allow people to haul bigger loads of freight, like building materials and dry goods, into the area from the Susitna River, a key ice route linked to the road system in winter.
The project description doesn’t mention mining companies, the region’s resource potential, or the state proposal for a haul road.
But Williams said he doesn’t see a need for a trail where the group is proposing it. He wouldn’t use it to move cargo to his property because the terrain is hard to traverse, he added.
“I am willing to travel a route that is 12 miles longer just because it is flat and less difficult to negotiate,” said Williams. “I don’t know who they’re improving access for.”
In its application to state regulators, Friends of West Susitna says the trail will be used by people with snowcats as well as “snowmachiners, mushers, and others.” It says their work, including clearing brush and felling trees, will create a safer transportation route connecting the Susitna River to Skwentna and a network of other trails and properties.
AIDEA, the state agency working on the mining access road, hasn’t analyzed how the nonprofit’s trail plans “would interface” with its own proposal, according to agency spokesperson Robyn Reyes.
“That analysis would guide any position [on the trail project] by the authority,” Reyes said in an email. She added that Friends of West Susitna’s proposal is “not connected” to the economic development agency’s project.
But Arno, the Friends of West Susitna board member, said the group’s winter trail work does align with the broader effort to promote access to the region for both resource development and recreation.
“The winter trail stuff is not separate,” he said.
“The whole thing about people going, ‘Well, this is just an underhanded way of AIDEA getting access to the mines,’ that’s fine,” Arno said. “Anything that we can do, as the Friends of West Susitna, to increase access into the area is going to be advantageous to Alaskans and the state.”
The Denali Commission did not consider AIDEA’s project when selecting Friends of West Susitna’s application for funding, according to Nikki Navio, the commission’s transportation program manager.
“The project was selected for funding only on its merits — that it will increase winter travel safety and reliability in the Skwentna area while also supporting local economic activity,” Navio said in an email.
The funding is “specifically and exclusively” for winter trail maintenance and grooming, she added. It would cover costs like labor, fuel, and equipment over two seasons.
Navio added that expected benefits include reliable winter access to “critical community facilities” for locals, like an airport and post office.
Northern Journal contributor Max Graham can be reached at max@northernjournal.com. He’s interested in any and all mining related stories, as well as introductory meetings with people in and around the industry.
This article was originally published in Northern Journal, a newsletter from Nathaniel Herz. Subscribe at this link.
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