[caption id="attachment_4230" align="alignnone" width="300"] ARPA members take a tour of Tsalteshi Trails on Oct. 7 during the conference in Soldotna[/caption] Tsalteshi Trails Association is thrilled to have received the 2020 Outstanding Organization Award from the Alaska Recreation and Park Association. ARPA held a conference in Soldotna Oct. 6-7, including taking a bike tour of area trails. The award recognizes entities that make great contributions to their community and to the improvement of recreation in Alaska. Tsalteshi was recognized for its efforts to meet the increase in users when COVID hit, stepping up maintenance, grooming and programming to make sure we had a safe, fun and welcoming place for people to get out and enjoy. [caption id="attachment_4231" align="alignnone" width="300"] Sen. Peter Micciche presents Jordan Chilson, secretary of the Tsalteshi Trails Association Board of…

New trail signs are going up throughout Tsalteshi this fall. We started with the Slikok main trails and are working on the Wolverine-Porcupine-Vole section off K-Beach now. We'll tackle as much of the other trails as we can before the ground freezes too hard. Keep an eye out for the green kiosks for our newly updated maps. We're getting loop names on all our newest trails. And we've heard from enough of you, who have mistakenly taken longer-than-intended routes back to your vehicles, that you sometimes just want to be done when you want to be done. We get it! You'll find lots more signs showing the shortest way back to the K-Beach and Slikok parking lots, Isaak Road and the school. Thank you to the 100 Women Who Care…

The Kenai Watershed Forum, as part of the Kenai Peninsula Cooperative Invasive Species Management Area, will treat infestations of orange hawkweed on Tsalteshi Trails on July 19. Populations of this invasive weed have been found along the Goat, Lynx, Raven, Wolf and Sprint Hill loops. Areas being treated will be signed and closed to traffic for 24 hours. Weeds will be treated with the herbicide Milestone (active ingredient, aminopyralid). Milestone received a “Practically Nontoxic” rating from the EPA, which is the EPA’s least toxic category. The rates at which the herbicide will be applied are very low. It affects herbaceous plants, not grass. Still, we don’t want the treated area to be disturbed for 24 hours to prevent the herbicide from being transferred to other areas of the trails. Please…