|
Land Protection for Alaska's Kenai Peninsula |
|
|
|
|
Diamond Creek Project SUCCESS!! With significant private donations from people just like you, special events like the Highland Games, and generous grants from the Federal Forest Legacy Program, The Conservation Fund, the Forest Service, the Rasmuson Foundation, and the Pacific Coast Joint Venture, Kachemak Heritage Land Trust raised the funds to purchase 275 acres from the University of Alaska at the heart of Homer’s Baycrest Ski Trail System. The purchase was completed in July 2007, and the property has been transferred to the City of Homer to benefit the public. The winter ski trails will be managed by Kachemak Nordic Ski Club.
The Diamond Creek watershed serves thousands of hikers, equestrians, and skiers, including students depending upon trails for cross-country ski practice and district and statewide races. The property includes habitat for coyote, black and brown bear, lynx, a wide variety of birds, and contains an important wildlife movement corridor along Diamond Creek. It is a moose wintering and calving area, and during spring and summer, the upper meadows are a feeding ground for sandhill cranes. The property is approximately 60% forested wetland, and is hydrologically important to Diamond Creek, which crosses the parcel. The parcel is forested, supporting black-spruce muskegs in low-lying areas and upland white and Sitka spruce. The City of Homer has designated this land to be used "for public purposes as park land in perpetuity." (City of Homer Ordinance 07-03) This land acquisition adds 275 acres of protected open space, habitat, and trails next to the 360-acre State of Alaska Demonstration Forest and Shelley Gill's 77 acres protected by a conservation easement held by KHLT. For 25 years, the Baycrest Ski Trail system has been a popular recreational area. Kachemak Nordic Ski Club maintains more than 30 kilometers of groomed ski trails within the Diamond Creek watershed, making it the largest area maintained for cross-country skiers on the southern Kenai Peninsula. Among other events, the KNSC holds the "Sea to Ski Triathalon" in the Baycrest/Diamond Creek area. CONGRATULATIONS and THANKS to all involved!
|
|
Preserving, for public benefit, land across Alaska's Kenai Peninsula with natural, recreational, or cultural values by working with willing landowners.
Questions or problems regarding this web site
should be directed to marie@kachemaklandtrust.org . |
In
2004, with help and support from the neighborhood, area skiers, and Kachemak
Heritage Land Trust (KHLT), the Alaska Department of Natural Resources, Division
of Parka and Outdoor Recreation secured a grant from the federal Forest Legacy
Program to purchase important recreation and forest land in the Diamond Creek area.
Through several major grants and individual donation from well over 200 people,
Kachemak Heritage Land trust raised the funds to cover the total project cost of
over $750,000.