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KODIAK - 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.

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.