The historic Portage Trail connecting Larsen Bay to the Karluk River is one step closer to being restored.

For more than 80 years, Natives fishing for subsistence and tourists hunting bears have used the trail. But as it grew in popularity, the footsteps of hikers and the tires of four-wheelers made the trail muddy, potholed and difficult to pass.

“Some of the locals haven’t been up there for 20 years because of the roughness of the trail,” said Alex Panamaroff, a shareholder of the Koniag Inc., a Native corporation which owns the land. “You’d hear of bikes getting stuck, and they didn’t want the hassle,” he said.

Volunteers with the Island Trails Network collaborated with shareholders of Koniag to lay more than 1,300 feet of geoblock in the past week. Erin Whipple, Lands and Natural Resources project director for Koniag, said the 2-mile trail will be finished in another four or five years.

Geoblock is a porous pavement hardening system made of recycled plastic. It allows vegetation to grow through, keeping the geoblock pallets out of sight.

As the trail grew wet and impassable, users would walk off to the side to avoid rough spots. Over the years, wide swaths of marshland were turned into muddy pits. The geoblock allows hikers and motorists to stick to the trail and avoid causing damage.

Panamaroff, 39, was raised in both Karluk and Larsen Bay. He said he hopes the project will enable village Elders from Larsen Bay to resume fishing in the Karluk River.

“It’s not a really hard trail for younger folks, but if you’re getting up there in age it’s pretty hard,” he said. “With the trail being laid, the Elders will able to get up there and do the fishing they did a long time ago.”

The trail has also been important to Elders as an access point for subsistence hunting and trapping, Panamaroff said.

“That was a way of life for them,” he said.

Whipple said the trail crew had hoped to lay at least 2,000 feet but that logistical problems hampered their efforts. The geoblock pallets were shipped from Kodiak to Larsen Bay and then taken to the work sites by helicopter, a process which was not always smooth.

Rain and wind provided another hurdle, said Austin Marsh, 23, of Anchorage, a volunteer with the Island Trails Network.

“We asked the engineer and she said probably it’s not the best thing to lay (the geoblock) down when it’s so wet,” Marsh said.

Of the 2-mile trail, a little more than half a mile is complete, Whipple said. The work will continue in August of next year.

The Portage Trail is a 17 B easement trail, allowing public use over land privately owned by Alaska Native corporations. Shareholders of Koniag were compensated for their work for the first time this year, Whipple said.

For the volunteers, it was a way to contribute to land improvement while exploring the natural beauty of Kodiak. Marsh said he also received college credit toward his major in environmental studies at Alaska Pacific University.

“It’s a fantastic example to the rest of the state about how private landowners and public agencies can work together to the betterment of the land and the people that use it,” Whipple said.