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Horse Use Being Limited At Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park

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By NPT Staff - November 2nd, 2015

While horses played a large role in the early days of the Klondike Gold Rush, these days they can cause more harm than good to the Dyea historic townsite, the National Park Service has decided. As a result, their use at the townsite in Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park will be limited and and restricted to an established route by private, non-commercial parties pursuant to a special use permit issued by the superintendent.  

During the gold rush, according to the Park Service, "about 10,000 people lived in Dyea and the area is rich in surface artifacts and other remnants from the Klondike Gold Rush of 1898.  ... Horses were a very important and visible component of the 1898 Klondike Gold Rush and the Dyea Historic Townsite from 1897 and for several decades afterward."

But today, "unregulated horse traffic in the Dyea Historic Townsite would be detrimental to the thousands of unique and irreplaceable cultural landscape features and artifacts that remain within and above the top layers of soil."

Thus the need to restrict horse traffic to permit holders.

Comments

Submitted by SmokiesBackpacker on November 3, 2015 - 3:47pm.

Where it is really needed is in the Smokies.  Equestrian damage throughout the backcountry trail system is rampant and well documented.  But it never will for fear of upsetting the horse concessions that rake in millions for the NPS.


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