Last week, we were happy to participate in the joint effort between the Partnership for the National Trails System and the American Hiking Society in the 23rd annual Hike the Hill event in Washington, DC! Aimed at increasing congressional and federal agency leader awareness of funding and other needs that sustain the national trails, every February trail partners and organizations from across the nation head to DC to discuss legislation, current policies, and goals with federal partners, congressman, and fellow trail organizations.Check out our FY19 reports.
Iditarod Historic Trail Alliance president Judy Bittner and treasurer Lesli Schick joined by BLM Iditarod National Historic Trail Administrator Kevin Keeler in DC. #HiketheHill
February also marks a major milestone in Alaska’s winter – the sun starts to return, and a number of long distance races that travel the Iditarod National Historic Trail are about to kick off- including the Iditarod Sled Dog Race! Before the festivities kick off, we wanted to take a moment and reflect on all of our accomplishments of the past year.
iTREC! kicked off it’s 10th year in Anchorage with fourteen teachers from three school districts: Anchorage, Mat-Su. Borough, and Bering Straits School Districts. In November, teachers visited Seward – Mile Zero of the Iditarod National Historic Trail – to continue building their curriculum and meet with Board Members Jonathan Sewall, Dan Seavey, and Lee Poleske. We are so excited for all the wonderful things these teachers will accomplish in their classrooms!
iTREC! kicked off it’s 10th year in Anchorage with fourteen teachers from three school districts: Anchorage, Mat-Su. Borough, and Bering Straits School Districts. In November, teachers visited Seward – Mile Zero of the Iditarod National Historic Trail – to continue building their curriculum and meet with Board Members Jonathan Sewall, Dan Seavey, and Lee Poleske. We are so excited for all the wonderful things these teachers will accomplish in their classrooms!
iTREC! 2019-2020 class in Seward, AK
TREC! is a year-long place-based, service-learning professional development workshop series connecting youth & communities along the Iditarod National Historic Trail, yet the impact extends well beyond the one year program. iTREC! alumna Dawn Wilcox from Campbell STEM Elementary went through the iTREC! program during the 2016-2017 school year and was selected as a 2019 recipient of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching. CONGRATS to Dawn, and all of our alumni that continue to teach our next generation of leaders!
 | In November, the Alliance joined a number of other trail advocates at the Anchorage Museum’s First Friday kickoff to Wilderness Week. Alaska Trails, the Chugach National Forest, Alaska State Parks, and the Kenai Mountains – Turnagain Arm National Heritage Area hosted stations where visitors could learn about trail resources and stamp their “Passport” to win great prizes. Thank you to everyone that came out for the event! |
| Our Annual Meeting was held the first week of December – thank you to all of our members and partners that came out! If you need a little winter-weather inspiration, check out this heartwarming video produced by Denali National Park on how the community of Minto is bringing dog mushing to the next generation of Dog Mushers. We hope your start to 2020 – and the new decade! is off to a great start. Stay tuned as in our next post we will be sharing reflections on the past ten years! |  Officers for 2020 elected at the annual meeting on December 5, left to right: Judy Bittner, President, Anchorage; Jonathan Sewall, Vice-President, Seward; Lesli Schick, Treasurer, Anchorage; and Stephanie Johnson, Secretary, Nome |