The Ketchikan Gateway Borough Assembly will consider a new trails master plan at Monday’s meeting. If adopted, the plan would aim to expand and improve trail facilities in the borough.
The draft plan has been in the works since 2024, after the community’s main recreational trails coalition dissolved. The plan was drafted with the help of community surveys and open house meetings to identify local needs.
Morgan Barry is the borough’s public works director. He said collaboration with other land owners is critical to ensuring trail work happens, like with the state’s Department of Natural Resources.
“Something like Carlanna Lake, where the borough maintains the parking lot, we can’t do much in the way of improvements because we don’t have the agreements with DNR, and the parking lot is located on their land,” Barry said.
In addition to the Carlanna Lake Trail, the Coast Guard Beach Trail is high on the priority list. Barry said the goal for that trail is to connect it with South Point Higgins Road. Reestablishing the Rainbird Trail, which closed after the deadly 2024 landslide, is also high on the list.
But it’s not just trails on the main island that are included in the plan. Black Sands State Marine Park, on Gravina Island, is also a top priority. According to the draft plan, the borough is proposing a 15-mile trail that can be accessed via the island’s road system. Currently, the park can only be accessed by boat, plane or informal muskeg routes.
Barry said about 80% of community members who helped guide the trail plan believe Gravina Island’s recreational opportunities are underserved.
“It’s really important to be able to experience the different areas, both here on Revillagigedo Island and over on Gravina Island,” Barry said, “and start considering how we can actually promote access to those areas and try and get the public to try and buy in or promote access to those areas.”
If the draft plan is adopted tonight, Barry says some of the suggested trailwork could be completed within the next five years. Those projects would be funded by the borough, as well as state and federal grants.
Hunter Morrison is a Report for America corps member for KRBD. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep him writing stories like this one. Please consider making a tax-deductible contribution.
