Tour company looks to expand summer use of Treadwell trail

A tour company that brings people on the Treadwell Mine Historic District Trail to its zip line is looking to increase the maximum number of visitors tenfold for next summer.

Alaska Canopy Adventures (ACA) currently has a City and Borough of Juneau commercial use permit that allows for 28 people per day and 500 people for a summer season to walk the trail to the zip line at the end of the trail. The company is now requesting to increase the daily maximum to 120 with a summer maximum of 5,000 people.

The company would be eliminating its operation of boating people across the channel, and would use vans or buses to access Savikko Park or the end of St. Ann’s Street, which are the two entrances to the trail.

Parks & Recreation is seeking public input on this at its next Parks & Recreation Advisory Committee meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 5, which will take place at 6 p.m. in City Hall Chambers. People are also asked to take a poll and provide comments at www.placespeak.com/cbjparkrec. First-time users are required to go through a short registration process.

As of Friday afternoon, 71 people had responded, with 66 percent of responders saying they were not in favor of expanding the commercial use of the trail.

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