Greetings!
An Ode to Summer
I have to admit looking at the calendar today, that I haven't gotten out on near as many trails as I had planned back in those cold blustery days of winter. So as summer begins to wane I am making a concerted effort to make up some ground on those goals.
When I have been out recently I am reminded of the hard work that many of the volunteer groups have accomplished. We don't have the luxury of having endless resources in our land management agencies budgets to maintain all of the trails throughout the Borough.
As always, we have to be creative. What we do have is a number of very dedicated volunteer groups who spend their time to ensure everyone has better trails to recreate on.
Recently,
Alaska Trails held a trail assessment training class here in the Mat-Su providing volunteers even more tools to help improve the quality of all of our trails. You can read more about it below - - and keep your eyes peeled for the next class they will be offering in the valley.
It has been a busy season out on the ground as other grantees have been hard at work. These are just a just a taste of the work completed by the dedicated trail groups we work with. To date we have funded over 35 projects.
- The Willow Trails Committee (WTC) has just finished up a new section of trail near Willow Park that connects several of the area trails. If you haven't had a chance to explore their trails whether in winter or summer you need to take time to learn more about them.
- The Carle Wagon Road equestrian trail got some much needed restoration work done to help preserve this trail. Two new bridges and the construction of a ford were installed by the Back Country Horsemen of Alaska volunteers.
- If you happened to venture up the Kesugi Ridge Trail in the last few weeks perhaps you were lucky enough to discover two new latrines that were installed recently. This project aimed to help mitigate the impacts of increased usage along the trail.
A big thanks to all the folks that have helped make these recreation resources even better for all of us to enjoy.
To that end, none of this work occurs in a vacuum though. You can help ensure that more of these types of projects are made possible. Join others who support improving and expanding our trails and parks network throughout the borough.
Please consider
donating
today to the Mat-Su Trails and Parks Foundation.
To learn more about all of the projects we have helped fund click here. Thank you for interest and support of the Mat-Su Trails and Parks Foundation.
Enjoy Your Trails and Parks!
~ Stuart Leidner, Executive Director