ShareTrails | Castner Glacier Recreation Area Management Plan -1,554 acres to be CLOSED to motorized use in Alaska!

The Bureau of Land Management is accepting comments until August 18th for the creation of the Castner Glacier recreation area management plan (RAMP) in Alaska. Castner Glacier continues to grow in popularity as one of the must see glaciers and ice caves in Alaska because it is easily accessible. The nearest town is Delta Junction approximately 45 miles away. The BLM wants to manage increased visitation to this area. However, management should include forecasting the growing popularity and managing the area in a way that does not distract from the current access and use. The BLM is proposing to create a special recreation management area (SRMA) which would allegedly maintain the existing recreation uses. However, the proposals would include non-motorized areas, group size limits and potential permit requirements. As you will see in the alternatives below, all the proposal is doing is offering restrictions to various users without also proposing or analyzing additional access and recreation opportunities to meet the growing demands. Send your comment to the BLM and elected representatives by filling out the form below. Please include your personal thoughts and experience at the beginning of the letter.

Currently, Castner Glacier is closed to motorized recreation from October 15-May 15 until there are 12 inches of snow cover or 6 inches of frost. Current management doesn’t include commercial helicopter tours.

Alternative B is the proposed action: no commercial helicopter use within the area, seasonal OHV closures, creation of recreation management zones including areas that are non-motorized or roadless, group size limits, no drones, no fires, no fireworks, no artificial lights accept for navigating purposes, no ice climbing. This plan would also identify commercial operators that want to use the planning area and require permits for these operators.

Most of the land within the planning area will be closed to OHV use year round. All classes of e-bikes would be prohibited. Any area open to motorized seasonal use will have a 3,000 pound weight limit, only 10 special use permits allowed each year group size limit of 10 people. Commercial filming and photography would be limited to one permit at a time.

Alternative C is essentially the exact same as Alternative B. The only differences are group size limitations would be 7 people to a group for special recreation permits (SRPs) and 15 SRP would be distributed throughout the year.

In the figures below, the existing ROS classes (Figure 4) show where motorized access is currently permitted (blue and green). Figure 5 shows what is proposing to change with this proposal.