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Planning >Your Denali Quest
Your
Denali Quest: South Side Development Plan
Elements
of the Plan
Concept: The emphasis
of the plan is on providing visitor facilities and services throughout
the south side to meet a wide range of needs and interests of the
region’s diverse user groups. Visitor facilities will be developed
in the Tokositna area near the end of the Petersville Road and along
the George Parks Highway in Denali State Park, at Chelatna Lake,
and in the Dunkle Hills area.
In the Tokositna area
visitors will obtain area-specific park orientation and interpretive
information at a visitor center, explore the area and access Denali
National Park and Preserve via hiking/interpretive trails, or make
use of a campsite or public use cabin (see the Development Concept
map). This component of the plan will provide the visitor with a
sense of departing the main highway and its faster pace and arriving
at a wilder, slower-paced locale. Facilities and road improvements
will be designed with this purpose in mind. Development at Tokositna
will provide access to the superb views in the area and provide
opportunities for the visitor to immerse oneself in the landscape
and be surrounded by the Alaska Range. Facilities will be designed
to encourage visitors to leave their vehicles and experience the
adjacent tundra/alpine landscape in both the state and national
park. Tokositna will also serve as a jumping-off point for the longer
hiking or backcountry trips in the surrounding wild lands.
Other areas will also
be developed to allow visitors to more fully experience the south
side. An interpretive center, a campground, interpretive roadside
exhibits, and trails will be available and accessible in Denali
State Park via the George Parks Highway. These facilities will be
provided for visitors seeking convenient information and orientation
to the area, for those wishing to use that area of the state park
for recreation, and for those users who do not have the time, interest,
or resources for an off-the-main-highway experience such as at Tokositna.
Additionally, a hiking
trail, a few campsites, and some plublic use cabins will be available
primarily for fly-in visitors at Chelatna Lake. A trailhead will
also be developed in the Dunkle Hills.
Viewed as a whole, these
south side facilities and services should benefit all visotrs, including
Alaska residents, independent travelers, and package tour travelers.
What follows are conceptual
descriptions of the proposed visitor facilities. More detailed information
and analysis of the exact site location, design, capacity, and function
of each component will be covered as part of concept refinement
through other subsequent, site-specific planning, environmental
analyses, and public involvement. Refer to appendixes C and D for
cost estimates related to proposed development staffing, operations,
and maintenance.
The state will manage
state-owned lands along the Petersville Road to protect scenic,
wildlife, mineral, recreation, and other resource values.
Land management plans
and controls will have to be in effect and resource studies completed
before significant development may occur. The implementation partnership
team, in consultation with the public, will determine when such
controls andc studies are sufficient to begin development.
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