About 20 people gathered at the Auk Nu Trailhead on a drizzly Saturday morning to celebrate National Trails Day. The event was organized by Trail Mix Inc., a nonprofit dedicated to restoring and supporting the unique system of trails in Juneau.
After a safety demonstration, volunteers organized into an assembly line, shoveling gravel into motorized wheelbarrows to be taken up the trail, then depositing and raking it along the path, and tamping it smooth. Volunteers also trimmed brush along the sides of the trail.
The Auk Nu Trail passes through land owned by the City and Borough of Juneau and the Tongass National Forest. It is emblematic of the trail organization’s goal to sustain a standard of maintenance for Juneau trails across diverse land ownership.
This year, Trail Mix is employing three paid trail crews, each with one lead and four members. As a crew works along a trail, funding for the project often shifts as ownership of the land changes. Trail Mix also facilitates volunteer opportunities, such as the work on Auk Nu Trail for National Trails Day.
Longtime Juneau resident Susan Baxter cited uncertainty in federal funding as one of the reasons she participated Saturday.
“I realize that it’s going to have to be more of a volunteer effort,” she said. “It’s wonderful to have these professionals here. That’s fabulous, and I hope that the funding for them can stay local.”
Trail Mix launched its “Support a Crew” fundraiser in response to instability in federal funding, intending to rehire employees who were fired from the U.S. Forest Service by the Trump Administration.
“We’re hearing reports of the crew members at the Forest Service losing their jobs, unsure if they would lose their job, in the reduction of force and so we wanted to raise money to provide a way to keep those talented, skilled trail workers in Juneau,” said Meghan Tabacek, executive director of Trail Mix. The fundraiser also supported Trail Mix projects impacted by the reduction in federal funding.
Volunteers push gravel up the Auk Nu Trail on Saturday, June 7, 2025. (Natalie Buttner / Juneau Empire)
Since the fundraiser, the Forest Service has rehired some of the workers Trail Mix had prepared to take on.
“We actually interviewed, hired multiple Forest Service workers, and they got reinstated for their jobs, which was really cool for us, because we’re like, public advocacy does work,” Tabacek said.
According to the Trail Mix website, of the $54,000 donated to the fundraiser, $21,000 will go toward labor costs for the three trail crews working on Forest Service Land, $9,000 will be used for materials and the remaining $24,184 will be reserved for urgent trail maintenance or rehiring Forest Service employees, should the need again arise.
“We’ve saved some so that we have enough money to support two federal workers if they do lose their jobs,” Tabacek said.
In the next year, Trail Mix plans to explore Alaska-based and trail-work specific grants and agreements, as well as other partnerships, in addition to project funding provided by the city.
Funding from Juneau Voter Proposition 2 in 2022 will allow Trail Mix to build a new public-use cabin in Amalga Meadows Park in the coming years. For Tabacek, the cabin also serves as an opportunity for workforce development.
“One of our goals at Trail Mix is to equip people with as many skills as they can take into the workforce after,” she said.
• Contact Natalie Buttner via editor@juneauempire.com or (907) 744-1980.
