For Immediate Release
September 29, 2004
The community of Dawson Creek this week is hosting the
Alaska Highway International Forum. One important aspect
of the conference is the signing of the Alaska Highway
Community Initiative which commits thirteen Alaska Highway
communities to begin to work together on matters of mutual
importance regarding the future planning and development
of the Alaska Highway.
The Alaska Highway has already been recognized
by the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada as
an Event of National
Historic Significance in 1954 and was recognized as an
International Historic Engineering Landmark by the American
Society of Civil Engineers and Canadian Society for Civil
Engineering in 1996. The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)
recognizes the importance of the development of the Northwest
Staging Route and construction of the Alaska Highway as
being of international significance and important to be
preserved for future generations.
Under the MOU communities recognize the
important trade and investment opportunities created by
the highway through
its linkages to other northern communities and southern
parts of Canada and the United States of America. The Alaska
Highway is described as an important “working highway” used
year-round by resource industries and local area residents
to sustain local economies.
Communities also recognize the significance
of the Northwest Staging Route and Alaska Highway as important
tourism icons
for visitors from all over the world that provide access
to some of the most important wilderness lands in North
America. Signatories to the MOU wish to ensure that the
tourism and travel activities continue to contribute to
the regional economies of each jurisdiction and to ensure
that the entire Alaska Highway corridor is marketed and
promoted for the mutual benefit of each jurisdiction. They
also want to work cooperatively to collaborate on issues,
projects and initiatives of mutual interest related to
the Alaska Highway. As well as have a greater say in land-use
planning along the Alaska Highway to ensure that the unique
historic, wilderness and cultural values of the entire
corridor are protected.
Communities also wish to work cooperatively
to recognize the Alaska Highway as a Living Museum and
to have a say
in how the unique aspects of the highway are preserved
for future generations. They want to accomplish this by
having a greater say in the allocation of funding for highway
projects related to tourism, construction, maintenance
and preservation of the historic, wilderness and cultural
characteristics of the corridor.
Member communities’ plan on maintaining regular contact
with each other in order to facilitate the sharing of information
related to the Alaska Highway. They will also identify
specific opportunities for cooperation, which maximize
the mutual community benefits regarding all types of commerce
related to the Alaska Highway. Other plans include improving
the signage, rest stops and interpretive information along
the Alaska Highway as well as working cooperatively to
brand, market and promote the historic, wilderness and
cultural values of the Alaska Highway.
Communities also want to work with senior
governments towards the establishment of a special fund
that will assist in
ensuring that the unique wilderness, historic and cultural
characteristics of the Alaska Highway corridor are preserved
for the benefit of future generations. This includes holding
an Alaska Highway Community Roundtable on a regular basis
to discuss topics of mutual importance related to the Alaska
Highway.
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.”
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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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