Upper foothills open for tundra travel

The upper foothills area on Alaska’s North Slope is now open for winter off-road tundra travel, the Department of Natural Resources’ Division of Mining, Land and Water said Jan. 4.

The western coastal area opened in late December.

Targets for tundra travel opening are 9 inches of snow and a 23 degree Fahrenheit soil temperature at 30 centimeters in the foothills and 6 inches of snow and the same soil temperature in coastal areas.

The western coastal tundra opening area met the criteria earlier; the eastern coastal tundra area remains closed. The division said Dec. 23 that while soil temperatures were adequate for tundra opening at all eastern coastal monitoring stations, average snow depths ranged from 4.6 inches to 8.5 inches, with the 6-inch target snow depth met at only four of the six stations.

The division noted that openings apply only to operators with valid off-road vehicle travel permits to operate on state-owned lands on the North Slope.

The division also said that while overall snow cover is good, it may be thin in some areas and those areas should be avoided, or special construction methods used to protect the tundra surface.

For questions, call the division’s Northern Region Land Section in Fairbanks at 907-451-2740.

—Petroleum News