Matanuska-Susitna Borough: Alaska's 'big valley'.

• Author: Barbour, Tracy
• Position: Regional Review

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The Matanuska-Susitna Borough represents one of Alaska's most popular and distinctive regions, providing Alaskans and tourists with beautiful scenery, wide-open spaces and ample outdoor recreation. Encompassing the valleys of the Matanuska and Susitna rivers, the borough spans 23,000 miles and is about the size of West Virginia.

Located hall an hour north of Anchorage, the borough offers massive mountains, glistening glacier valleys and fish-laden rivers and lakes, and is home to the majestic Chugach and Alaska ranges. It's also within easy access to Denali National Park and Preserve with breathtaking views of Mount McKinley, North America's highest peak.

"We're perfectly situated to be a good base camp for people's Alaska vacations," said Casey Ressler, marketing and communications manager for the Mat-Su Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Talkeetna, on the borough's northern edge, serves as a convenient starting point for visitors to Denali, and is a favorite visitor destination within the borough. A mecca for outdoor enthusiasts, Talkeetna is well-known as the international gathering place for mountain climbers. Many others flock there for flight seeing, rafting, hiking, fishing, camping, wildlife viewing and a host of other outdoor activities

"The Mat-Su Valley offers a quality of life that's a bit more than living in the city," Ressler said.

The Mat-Su Borough is home to slightly more than 84,300 people, according to 2009 estimates by the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development. Many of its residents are concentrated in the Knik-Fairview Census Designated Place (13,824), Wasilla (7,245) and Palmer (5,532).

TOURISM RANKS HIGH

Each year, thousands of people from within Alaska and outside the state take recreational trips to the Mat-Su Valley. According to the borough's June 2008 Tourism Infrastructure Needs Study, the Valley had 780,000 visitors in 2006/2007. Of those, 446,000 were from Alaska. Visitors spent a total of $201 million in the borough, mainly on food and beverages, accommodations, fuel and transportation, and tours and entertainment. The Mat-Su borough's annual visitation is expected to grow to 1.2 million visitors in 2017, according to the study.

"I think everybody sees it as a great playground for outdoor recreation," Ressler said.

The borough's tourism industry has faired considerably better than other places within Alaska. Last year, Ressler said, tourism was down as much as 20 percent in some places around the state. In the Mat-Su Borough, however, tourism dipped just under 9 percent.

GROWTH TREND CONTINUES

With its proximity to...