The Matanuska-Susitna Borough Parks Department is recruiting seasonal workers for summer 2025 to maintain trails and operate campgrounds across the valley.

The department needs crew members for trail construction and maintenance work as well as campground operations. Workers will handle equipment upkeep, playground maintenance, and trailhead facilities including picnic tables and trash cans, according to Hugh Leslie, operations branch manager for the borough parks department.

"A lot of the problems that we face at the Mat-Su Borough Parks Department is primarily upkeep and maintenance on equipment around the parks, playgrounds, and at the trailheads, everything from picnic tables to trash cans, things of that nature," Leslie said.

The positions offer training in sustainable trail building, reservation systems, and facility management. Campground workers will learn bookwork, registrations, and computer operations through the borough's reservation system. Trail crew members will learn to build and maintain sustainable trails throughout the valley.

The work is physically demanding. Trail crew members work outdoors in all weather conditions, wind, rain, and sometimes snow, climbing mountains and carrying heavy equipment, according to a crew supervisor who oversees about 12 seasonal workers in the summers.

Leslie, who started on trail crew in 2012 and returned as a permanent employee in winter 2015, emphasized the department's team culture. "We start each summer as individuals and we end each summer as a well-bonded team," he said.

Applications are available at matugov.us under career opportunities.