Congratulations to the 2020 Grant Recipients!
The Kenai Mountains-Turnagain Arm National Heritage Area (KMTA) Board of Directors recently awarded 12 grants, a total of $78,430 in funding, at their May 2020 Zoom meeting. The awarded amount was a combination publication, community, and 3-year programmatic grants. The newly awarded grants will leverage over $135,000 of in-kind community support and are listed below:
3-Year Programmatic Grants ($3000 per year for three years)
Moose Pass Public Library was awarded a grant to move forward on a preservation project that is designed to preserve and share Moose Pass history.
Hope and Sunrise Historical Society was awarded a grant to facilitate a Hope Museum Development Coordinator Position who will be responsible for developing and refining programs and exhibits as well as supporting museum hours from Memorial Day to Labor Day.
Publication Grants
Rolfe Buzzel was awarded $5,000 for a reprinting of the book Gold Rush Wife By Dorothy Frost which details the history of the Turnagain Arm Gold Rush from 1896-1898, the history of the gold mining community of Sunrise City, and the role of women in mining and community development during the late 19th and early 20th centuries in southcentral Alaska.
The Moose Pass Chamber of Commerce was awarded $9,895 for the publication of People, Paths, & Places: A Frontier History of Moose Pass, Alaska. The book is an outgrowth of a project that began in 2016 with the renovation of the town’s library.
Max Romey was awarded $14,990 for the creation of a video that combines history, adventure, and trails in an engaging story that encourages young Alaskans to explore the KMTA landscapes and communities around them.
Community Based Grants
Girdwood Trails Committee was awarded $7,320 to improve the Virgin Creek Trail including installing signage, improve trail tread in two sections, and install an elevated metal path supported by gabion baskets over the section that experiences greater glaciation and drainage.
Four Valleys Community Schools was awarded $6,691 to help support their fifth year of Summer Adventure Camps for youth in the Girdwood, Bird, Indian, and Portage area.
The Alaska Department of Natural Resources (Alaska State Parks) was awarded $13,292 to place interpretive kiosk at the trail junction between the Fort Trail and South Beach Trail in the Caines Head Recreation Area.
Cook Inlet Beluga Whale Citizen Science & Interpretation Program was awarded $1,295 to support federal endangered species recovery plan actions as well as lay the groundwork for developing a sustainable model of community-based beluga conservation in the National Heritage Area.
Hope and Sunrise Historical Society (HSHS) was awarded $3,890 to provide free online interactive searchable map of all major historical locations and resources surrounding Hope and Sunrise. HSHS was also awarded another grant of $2,250 for restoration work on the Granite Creek Guard Station (also known as Smokey’s).
Cooper Landing Community Club was awarded $7,807 to support a historic sign project as part of the Cooper Landing Youth Group. The signs will highlight five significant community buildings on three properties that are a threshold of the Cooper Landing Community.
KMTA receives and administers federal funds to support locally initiated community projects. Through KMTA’s Community-Based Grants Program, the organization works to enhance, preserve, and protect the historic, cultural, scenic, and outdoor recreational resources of Alaska’s only designated National Heritage Area.
Past projects funded include an award-winning high school curriculum, new museum exhibits, trail restoration, interpretive signage, citizen science programs, and historic building restoration. To see past projects click here.