Pontti Homestead

In the Fall of 2018, Jeanne Pontti and her family generously donated their forty-acre Goldstream homestead to the Interior Alaska Land Trust. This property helps expand the Goldstream Public Use Area and conserve vital wildlife corridors.

Pontti Homestead in relation to Blueberry Preserves

The Pontti Homestead is 40 acres of shrubby wetland and dwarf conifers. Linking state-owned land to IALT’s Blueberry Preserves, the homestead both improves the connectivity of the trail system in the Goldstream basin and helps conserve wetland habitat and green-space. The Pontti Homestead is used by skiers, dog-mushers, and wildlife enthusiasts throughout the year and will be a part of the Goldstream Public Use Area for years to come. As Fairbanks grows, we believe it is parcels like these that will preserve the open spaces that make Fairbanks unique.

Jeanne Pontti with baby Libby at the homestead in 1969, courtesy of the Pontti family.

After several years of renting from Erland Stephens, the original homesteader of the forty-acre Goldstream property, the Pontti’s purchased and lived on the land from 1967 to 1982. They accessed the property from a trail now known as Willow Run, following it down to the old Pioneer Access Trail. The property was and still is a beautiful setting with long views to the south and west. A little log cabin, several out-buildings, and a rickety moose tower used to reside on the forty acres still home to many moose, foxes, beavers, and birds.

The Pontti’s describe the isolation of the property as a hardship, but claim that the kind-hearted neighbors and community greatly made up for it. Today the property is a wonderful place for blueberry picking, wildlife observation, and both summer and winter trail use.