BLM REA CYR 2013 Near-term Future Alternative Transportation

Transportation networks are comprised of land (e.g. highways, roads, secondary roads, forestry roads, and trails), air (e.g. airports and airstrips), and water (e.g. rivers). Communities in the FNSB and a few outlying communities are connected by roads, but many communities in the study area are only accessible by airplane, boat, or snowmachine in winter. Included in trails were those designated under the Revised Statute (RS) 2477 of the Mining Act of 1866 that granted public right-of-way across unreserved Federal land to guarantee access as land transferred to state or private ownership. Rights-of-way were created and granted under RS 2477 until its repeal in 1976. However, trails that existed in 1976 continue to be valid rights-of-way for public use and given the large study area it was not feasible to examine this with satellite imagery. Along the Dalton Highway, there are a number of trails and access routes that were provided by the BLM, including: mining compliance trails, Dalton pipeline gravel access roads, and Dalton Highway ground transportation linear feature mining roads and trails. Alternative transportation contains trails, railroads, and rivers used for transportation.