For Immediate Release
September 27, 2004
Mayor Wayne Dahlen is playing host this week to the Alaska
Highway International Forum. Earlier this summer Mayor
Dahlen traveled up the Alaska Highway and met with community
leaders about the upcoming conference. The event is expected
to attract approximately 150 delegates from thirteen different
Alaska Highway communities as well as senior government
officials. The two-day event is the first time community
leaders have met to discuss issues related to the long-term
planning and development of the Alaska Highway corridor.
The highway corridor crosses international, provincial,
territorial, state, and municipal jurisdictions and travels
through the cultural boundaries of many northern indigenous
people.
The building of the Alaska Highway in 1942
was the largest construction project ever completed in
North America. The
road today is maintained to civilian standards by each
separate jurisdiction and serves as an important economic
lifeline to northern communities. The Alaska Highway is
considered a “working highway” used year round
by the trucking industry and local area residents. Companies
involved in oil and gas exploration and forestry utilize
the highway as a major access point to this resource rich
region. During the summer months the highway is especially
important for the tourism industry as thousands of visitors
make there way up the Alaska Highway by recreational vehicle
to visit northern British Columbia, Yukon and Alaska.
The Alaska Highway travels through or alongside
some of the most important wilderness in North America.
In northeastern
British Columbia the highway travels through the northern
rockies and provides access to a combination of ten provincial
parks and campgrounds including Stone Mountain, Muncho
Lake and Liard River Hotsprings. In addition the highway
corridor passes by the Wokkpash Protected Area and travels
through the Muskwa-Kechika Management Area. In Yukon, the
highway provides access to eight campgrounds and two recreational
areas as well as providing stunning views of Kluane National
Park and Reserve as visitors drive along the park perimeter.
In Alaska, visitors can access a combination of eight State
Recreation Sites and Campgrounds as well as the Tetlin
National Wildlife Refuge and access to the Wrangell-St.
Elias National Park which is the largest National Park & Reserve
in the United States.
Over the past decade the Alaska Highway
has undergone a major transformation as many of the original
curves have
been straightened; the road surface has been upgraded from
gravel to pavement; and several new pullouts have been
added. The “highway experience” continues to
change as a result of these capital improvements.
One expected highlight of the conference
will be the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding which
will provide a process
for communities to continue to consult on matters of mutual
importance about the Alaska Highway and future development
initiatives. The new Alaska Highway Community Roundtable
will provide a foundation for stakeholder groups to begin
to work together in providing advice to senior governments
about long-term planning priorities related to the Alaska
Highway. Mayor Dahlen indicated that: “we need to
ensure that community leaders have an opportunity to speak
with one voice on issues which affect all of us.”
The international importance of preserving
the historic, wilderness and cultural characteristics of
the highway
significance will be addressed during the conference. For
example, the Alaska Highway has been segmented into three
distinctly different highway routes thereby detracting
from its recognition as a single highway. In B.C. it is
recognized as Highway 97, in the Yukon as Highway 1 and
in Alaska as Highway 2. Mayor Dahlen indicated that “the
lack of an individual identity of the roadway needs to
be reviewed.”
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For
more information contact:
April Moi, Executive Director
Northern Rockies Alaska Highway
Tourism Association
PO Box 6850, Fort St. John, BC V1J 4J3
(250) 785-2544 Toll Free: 1-888-785-2544
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