Helm receives Meritorious Service Award

MAT-SU — Dot Helm was honored with a Meritorious Service Award May 5 for her volunteer efforts for the University of Alaska Fairbanks and University of Alaska Anchorage campuses near Palmer. She has devoted hundreds of hours to mapping and caring for miles of trails around and near the two university properties.

Mat-Su College Director Talis Colberg said of the college’s 1,000-acre parcel, the college occupies just seven acres.

“More than 900 acres are accessible only by trail. The remote acreage can be part of a quality MSC experience for those who venture onto the trail system,” he said. “Dr. Helm has been the instrumental person who chose to devote her retirement years to creating that opportunity.”

Helm also was a founding figure in the creation of Valley Mountain Bikers. For years, she has been a key participant and volunteer for the Mat-Su Ski Club, Matanuska-Susitna Borough trails advisory boards and the Crevasse Moraine Trail Association.

She has been instrumental in the coordination of trail naming and signage placement throughout the borough core-area trail system.

The university system, along with the borough, has been the beneficiary of her efforts to enhance the quality of trail user experiences in the Matanuska Valley.

“We are fortunate to be located in a community with neighbors like Dr. Helm,” Colberg said.

Her efforts created a unified identification system and map of trails on the thousands of contiguous acres of land owned by the borough, the state of Alaska, the university and others within the Matanuska-Susitna Borough core area.