IDITAROD is a magical word not only in Alaska, but also in the Nation and in many other parts of the world. It is a word that raises different images and emotions in different people. To the oldest Alaskan Natives, it recalls the approximate name of a 19th century Athabaskan Indian village on a small river now also called Iditarod. To “Sourdoughs” and others familiar with the State’s history, IDITAROD refers to the now-abandoned Gold Rush town of the 1910’s and its associated mining district in Southcentral Alaska. More technically, to the historian, IDITAROD refers to the 1910 Seward-to-Nome mail trail surveyed by the U.S. Army’s Alaska Road Commission. Yet today the name IDITAROD, above all in National and International recognition, symbolizes the dramatic, long distance sled dog race between Anchorage and Nome held each March since 1973.

In November of 1978, IDITAROD took on still another meaning when the National Trails System Act was amended. At the urging of the public, Congress created a new category of National Trails when the Lewis and Clark, the Oregon, the Mormon-Pioneer, and the Iditarod were designated as National Historic Trails.

The IDITAROD NATIONAL HISTORIC TRAIL (Iditarod NHT) is composed of the federally administered areas of the Gold Rush Trail network which connect Seward in southern Alaska with Nome in northwestern Alaska via the Iditarod Mining District. The 938-mile Trail, commonly known as the “Iditarod Trail” during the Iditarod Gold Rush of the 1910’s, was formally constructed by the Alaska Road Commission under the direction of Walter L. Goodwin during 1910-11. This constitutes the Iditarod NHT’s “Primary Route.” Yet branching from this primary route are hundreds of miles of land and water based routes and trails. They were important not only during the 1910’s, but also during the entire Gold Rush Period in Interior Alaska from the 1880’s into the 1920’s, with some based on even earlier Indian trails. In addition to the trails used during this period, other routes used yearly in the IDITAROD TRAIL SLED DOG RACE are also part of this Trail system. Collectively, these trail segments and associated historic sites make up what is referred to as the IDITAROD NATIONAL HISTORIC TRAIL SYSTEM.

Though the IDITAROD NATIONAL HISTORIC TRAIL SYSTEM currently includes only the federally administered portions of the Gold Rush trail system, the remainder of the network will be recognized officially as components of the National Trails System once cooperative agreements between the Secretary of the Interior and the non-federal land managers are executed.

This Comprehensive Management Plan, as mandated by Congress, represents the cooperative efforts of the Bureau of Land Management, the Forest Service, the Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Park Service, the State of Alaska, the Iditarod National Historic Trail Advisory Council, various local governments, Native corporations, and interest groups, as well as hundreds of individuals. Together, these agencies, groups, and individuals have proposed a cooperative management philosophy.

This management philosophy, which is based on the spirit of cooperation and on formal agreements, seems particularly appropriate for Alaska. The entire Trail system would be managed as a unit by a coalition of volunteer Trail organizations in partnership with the local land managers who are ultimately responsible for the various segments of the Trail. The intent of this plan is for the Iditarod NHT, so that eventually the State of Alaska and a coalition of volunteer organizations may assume the major portion of the management responsibility for the Trail system.

The IDITAROD NATIONAL HISTORIC TRAIL is unique in Alaskan and American history. It represents the last vestige of a truly remote and wild trail system which today remains much the same as it was 75 years ago. We trust that as stewards of this remarkable nonrenewable resource, we will work cooperatively to preserve a prominent part of America’s past for future generations who will treasure this resource as much as or more than we do today.