Photo: AnaSoc · CC BY-SA 4.0More than half of Ester’s land is conserved: 56%
56% of Ester’s land is conserved, about 22,966 acres. 133 miles of mapped trail cross Ester, 2.1 per square mile of land. 2% of residents live within a half mile of a park.
Ahead of 57% of U.S. towns · #25 of 41 in Alaska. What drives it
What kind of outdoors town is Ester?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
How much outdoors does Ester have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Ester is ahead of 57% of U.S. towns, #25 of 41 in Alaska. Conserved land holds the grade up; the share of residents near a park pulls it down.
Alaska towns conserve more land than most (a typical one, 15%; the U.S., 4%), so Ester’s 56% is ahead of 85% of Alaska towns, while its trails per square mile lead 90% of them.
PAD-US, OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors), Census 2025 Gazetteer and 2020 blocks; details in Sources below. How TownRatings grades the outdoors →
Conserved land, trails & bike routes
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it.
22,966 conserved acres
56% of Ester’s land. Who manages Ester’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. Public access isn’t recorded for 4 of 5 parcels. The walks above are places people visit.
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| State Patented State Other or Unknown | State natural resources | 11,943 | Unknown |
| State Land Disposals - Municipal Purposes State Other or Unknown | State natural resources | 7,204 | Unknown |
| State Land Disposals - Other Than Municipal State Other or Unknown | State natural resources | 3,169 | Unknown |
| State Tentatively Approved (tad) State Other or Unknown | State natural resources | 643 | Unknown |
| Ester Community Park Local Park | County | 6 | Open |
3 places to go in Ester
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
1 playground without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see it.
1 picnic area without a name on the map.
25 named trails and 5 lakes & rivers
15 more trails
13 miles of bike routes
Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
1 place on the National Register
The country’s official list of places worth saving (National Park Service).
The best walking months in Ester: May and June
NOAA’s 1991–2020 normals for the town and the daylight at its latitude. Outlined months have long days, highs of 59 to 86 °F and little rain for the place.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daylight (h) | 5.0 | 8.3 | 11.5 | 15.0 | 18.6 | 21.7 | 20.2 | 16.5 | 12.9 | 9.5 | 6.0 | 3.7 |
| High (°F) | 0 | 11 | 25 | 45 | 61 | 71 | 72 | 65 | 54 | 33 | 11 | 3 |
| Rain (in) | 0.7 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.7 | 2.1 | 2.7 | 2.8 | 1.5 | 0.9 | 0.9 | 0.8 |
April is the driest month (0.4 in) and July the warmest (highs of 72 °F). 2.8 inches fall in August, the wettest month. The climate in Ester →
Ester and its neighbors
Ester has the second most mapped trails of the 4 towns around it. Tap a town to see its outdoors.
| Town | Conserved of land | Trail mi per sq mi | Park acres per 1,000 | Near a park ½ mile | Outdoors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ester | 56% | 2.1 | 2 | 2% | B |
| Chena Ridge | 55% | 2.0 | 2 | 13% | B |
| Goldstream | 62% | 1.6 | 26 | 1% | A− |
| College | 3% | 5.2 | 19 | 71% | A− |
The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.
Questions about parks and trails in Ester
How much of Ester is conserved land?
56% of its land, against a typical 15% for an Alaska town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.
Where can I bike in Ester?
13 miles of bike routes are on the map: 0.2 of painted or protected lanes and 13 of off-road paths.
Is there public land near Ester?
123,206 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Ester or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 1,624 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Ester have?
Ahead of 57% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #25 of 41 in Alaska. The grade combines the share of land that is conserved, miles of mapped trail per square mile of land, park acres per 1,000 residents and the share of residents within a half mile of a park. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
Trail talk
Conditions, parking and favorite walks from Ester neighbors.
Where this page comes from
Conserved and public land: USGS Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US), service updated July 2026. Parks, trails, playgrounds, beaches and other places: OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL), map data as of 2026-10-28. Land and water area: Census 2025 Gazetteer. Residents near a park: 2020 Census blocks. National Register: National Park Service. How TownRatings grades the outdoors →