The Arthur Mannix Memorial Fund is designed to support projects and activities in the areas Arthur was passionate about, with a specific focus on efforts that bring people together and connect them with the natural world.
Arthur was an adventurer, builder, writer, activist, and citizen scientist. He cherished and fostered relationships with everyone he met and donated countless hours to his community. A resident of the Upper Susitna Valley for over forty years, Arthur built a home, raised a family, operated a business, and explored the surrounding wilderness, while engaging in a wide range of volunteer work.
Arthur was passionate about outdoor recreation and enjoyed sharing this love with others. He served on the board of the Denali Nordic Ski Club (DNSC) for many years, built and groomed local ski trails, and coordinated the Oosik Classic ski race.
He and his wife, Karen, started the DNSC Junior Nordic Ski Program to teach kids to ski and traveled around the state to youth ski races. He also volunteered for Special Olympics and introduced many people to the outdoor activities he enjoyed, from skiing to rafting to ice climbing. Arthur dreamed of creating a kids’ ski jumping program, expanding the local trail system, and building a warming hut adjacent to the trails for community members to gather.
Arthur also felt a strong connection with nature and the land he lived on. He and Karen spearheaded the Talkeetna One Tree Project, a community-building art, science, and educational effort. He wrote and recorded essays and poetry about the history, people, and ecosystem of the Upper Susitna Valley for the local public radio station. And in the last year of his life, he started growing hundreds of saplings from a “super tree” that survived a recent spruce bark beetle outbreak that ravaged the forests of Southcentral Alaska. In the years to come, he planned to distribute the young trees to residents in hopes of creating a community reforestation project and associated research study.