Political Quotes

“the Kenai Mountains-Turnagain Arm National Forest Heritage Area would be the first Heritage Area in Alaska, and one of a few Heritage Areas in the West. Our proposal encompasses the wide mountainous corridor that was the major gateway to pioneer settlement of the State, extending from Seward through the Kenai Mountains to the upper Turnagain Arm. Here mountain trails developed by indigenous First Alaskans became prospectors' trails and, eventually, the roads and railroad used by the pioneers who settled the last frontier of the United States. Transportation, resource development and settlement in this rugged, often-treacherous landscape provide a powerful reminder of the fortitude and resourcefulness of the pioneers of America's Last Frontier. Historic communities that were developed around mining and early transportation routes have preserved much of their original character. A visit to the Hope Townsite is a visit to a living community that still resembles the gold rush town that it was before the rush to the Klondike. The City of Whittier provides a glimpse of our Nation's intense effort to develop an ice-free port to supply troops who were defending our boundaries in Alaska during World War II. As in the early days, all the signs of human activity in the corridor are dwarfed by the sweeping landscapes of the region, by the magnificence of the mountains, glaciers and tidal fjords and the dominance and power of nature.”