The Native Alaska community of Arctic Village, located on Tribal lands just outside the boundary of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, is an isolated settlement accessible only by air. There are a few trucks in the village and most travel is done using snow machines or off-road vehicles. Villagers use these to continue many of their traditional subsistence ways: hunting and fishing, berry-picking, and gathering firewood for heating their homes.

The twenty-mile Dachanlee trail is a traditional route across Tribal land from the village to fishing sites at Old John Lake. The lake lies within the boundary of the Arctic Refuge but almost all the shoreline is private Native allotments.

Years of off-road vehicle use has slowly caused the trail to deteriorate. Gravel was added to the trail in the 1970s, but over the following 30 years potholes and hummocks formed, making passage difficult, and soils have eroded. Over the last two summers, Arctic Refuge worked with the Arctic Village Council and Tanana Chiefs Conference to fund and oversee repair work on the roughest 11 miles of trail.  The project was funded through the State Recreational Trails Grant program and was conducted as a Youth Conservation Corps program – providing teens with a connection to conservation careers. Thirteen energetic village teens worked 8 weeks in 2006 and 6 weeks in 2007 to remove rocks, cut vegetation, fill holes, and install waterbars to drain water from the trail’s surface. The Refuge also provided the teens with environmental education and opportunities to learn about careers in the Fish and Wildlife Service.

The Refuge hopes this trail work will improve access to Native lands and allotments, reduce soil erosion, and discourage the formation of new trails on Refuge lands.