Quality, well-maintained nature trails are critical to enjoyment, access, and safety. Yet many nature trails fall into disrepair due to limited resources and lack of maintenance. Here's what you can do about it.
Are you seeking a sustainable approach to maintaining community trail systems, including best practices?
This is a common problem for small farms and rural communities. You may have trails that don't get much attention. Trails you use those trails for access or public enjoyment.
Many write with questions on how to clear a trail in the woods by hand. They want access to their land with safety and security for those who enjoy it. What can be done to manage larger trail systems, especially those with public use?
Community-Led Trail Maintenance in a Tight-Knit Rural Community
Do you manage private trails, a community trail system, or trails for eco-tourism? This question is relevant to you. Lisa S. writes about the needed help for trail maintenance in her rural community.
Subject: Assistance Needed for Trail Maintenance in our Rural Community
Dear Justin,
I'm writing as part of a tight-knit rural community in the heart of the beautiful countryside. We take pride in our outdoor spaces and enjoy trails available for hiking, biking, and connecting with nature.
Yet, some of these trails have fallen into disrepair due to limited resources and lack of maintenance. We want to contribute to the effort and revitalize these trails, making them safe and enjoyable for everyone.
Could you provide us with guidance on community-led trail maintenance initiatives? We're interested in learning about practical strategies, available resources, and best practices to ensure long-term sustainability.
Thank you for your podcast!
Sincerely,
Lisa S.
KentuckyI've removed Lisa's location specifics for privacy, yet many face the same challenges. Community-led trail maintenance initiatives are difficult to establish and manage.
Lisa, you're in the right place. In this episode, I address practical strategies and best practices for trail maintenance. Available resources will depend on your location. Let's get started.
The Big Problems Relying on Volunteers for Trail Maintenance
Volunteers are great. They don't need must expense, and enthusiasm is always welcome. Yet there are problems with volunteer dependence on trail maintenance:
- Unskilled maintenance causes more harm than good without a solid trail design. Volunteers tend to amplify problems on the trail.
- Improper cutting of trees and brush removes healthy habitats or damages vegetation. Volunteers need training on plant identification.
- Equipment operation can be dangerous for non-professionals without proper safety training. Your insurance may not allow the use of appropriate tools.
- Volunteers have reasons to be there—some conflict with your objectives. Entertainment or recreational value leads the list. While work can be fun, it needs to stay safe and effective.
- A volunteer team is less productive than a professional team but less destructive. Landscaping and city maintenance is a job most want to finish as fast as possible.
- Finding volunteers with essential skill sets to clear overgrown trails is hard. They could cause damage to themselves or your trail.
- Working on trails implies entitlement for use. This invites unauthorized use, which is a source of liability and creates more work.
- Without a clear direction, volunteers are unreliable for getting real work done. They will do what is accessible rather than sustainable.
- Labor will fall on the back of a few volunteers who may be taken advantage of over time. It's a problem if the same people do all the work, even if they seem happy.
- Most people have a distorted understanding of the natural environment. This lack of understanding impacts habitat.
This is not to discourage you.
You want to look towards groups familiar with quality trails for these reasons. Look for volunteers in conservation groups, scouting organizations, and master naturalists.
Organizations with conservation missions have done much of the education necessary. They can help you maintain the nature your hikers want without being too synthetic.
Remember, your trail is an unnatural imposition on a habitat. Anything wider than a footpath has the potential to damage the ecosystem. That's why the quality of design, maintenance, and usage matters.
Trail maintenance removes obstacles, such as fallen trees or overgrown vegetation. But where you put these materials afterward impacts trail quality.
Clearing by hand isn't always the best approach.
I've seen brush obscuring trail observation points. Or woody material that could have better helped reduce erosion. The more people interact with a trail, the less natural it becomes.
You can have the right volunteer team worn out clearing trails by hand. This is discouraging and dangerous. Without proper training hand, clearing trails is a losing battle.
Sustainable Guidance on Community-Led Trail Maintenance That Works
Yet the quality of nature, business development, and lifestyle far outweigh the challenges. The proper maintenance approach makes trails safe, accessible, and low impact on nature.
If you clear trails the wrong way or allow unapproved uses, you will have problems. These problems include safety, security, aesthetics, and increasing maintenance costs (to name a few.)
Here is a high-level approach. Use this to develop a community-led initiative around sustainable trail maintenance:
- A clear reason for trails to exist.
- Are there specific sites along the trail that needs access?
- What kinds of habitat does the trail connect or need preserving?
- What specific purpose does the trail serve in the context of your community?
- Is there an established right of way or previous use that makes the trail valuable?
- Cultivation of community involvement.
- How does the trail align with the needs of existing organizations and missions?
- Besides free labor, is there a reason for community groups to care about the trail?
- Who benefits from the nature trail, including business and social groups?
- Are you holding regular events connecting the community with your trail system?
- Alignment to needs of organizations.
- How else could the trail serve the community and improve the lifestyle of citizens?
- In what way could community organizations use the trail for their mission?
- Consider the trail as a destination; who else benefits from those visitors?
- Written maintenance plan and maps.
- Was your trail designed for sustainability or installed haphazardly?
- Has your trail had ecological or conservationist involvement in design?
- What is done monthly and quarterly to maintain your trails?
- What challenges does your nature trail face over a year?
- What maintenance is necessary for the design of your trail as it ages?
- Could trail design adjustments reduce the maintenance cost over time?
- Volunteer education on use and maintenance.
- What minimum safety training is necessary to protect volunteers on the trail?
- Do you have any insurance requirements for maintenance activities?
- Are the skills necessary to maintain the trail typical to volunteers?
- Appropriate professional support.
- From a cost perspective, what prevents periodic professional management?
- How much funding is necessary to fix the damage on the trail or to build the trail again?
- Has trail usage accelerated maintenance requirements or damage?
- Has the surrounding ecology improved due to the trail, or has it been neutral?
- Necessary funding outside of gifts.
- Do you have a “Friends of the Trail” organization to manage funds or volunteers?
- Could the hiking trail system be self-funding through services or admission?
- Who may be interested in providing a grant or endowment for trail maintenance?
- Are any historical associations making the trail more meaningful or engaging?
Trail maintenance is a bit more than clearing trails by hand. Those who ask about getting volunteers to do trail maintenance usually have resource challenges. A holistic approach can improve this.
A Sustainable Trail Maintenance Plan as Unique as Your Location
As the nature around a trail changes, so would your maintenance. Trails for hiking, biking, ATVs, or horses are as dynamic as the users. Some trails hold up better than others.
Here are some of the hiking trails I mention in this episode. Each is there for a different reason. Every one of these trails has unique management and community value aspects.
- The Dick & Willie Passage Rail Trail (Martinsville-Henry County, VA) was a railroad system and is level with gradual grades. Trails are paved paths with wide medians. This allows mowing with fewer issues with trees. Every entry point has lockable gates opened for equipment.
- Newport News White Oak Trail (Newport News, VA) is a 2.4-mile loop in a more extensive trail system that goes through mature forest and the shore of the Warwick River. There is very little undergrowth, shade, and the trail is level. Visitors do keep the trail clear with regular use.
- Legs of the Appalachian Trail (a 2,190+ mile public footpath) have local maintenance managed by the National Park Service, US Forestry Service, Appalachian Trail Conservancy, and thousands of volunteers. The terrain and difficulty change by segment. How each segment is maintained depends on local considerations like access and habitat.
Every trail is different. I've worked on trails managed by private families, national organizations, and local governments. There are interesting dynamics that can help or hurt trail management.
For private land, I recommend hunting trails with clean lines of sight. Your trail will be about accessing resources for a small farm or homestead. A small, tight-knit community will have nature trails that cater to lifestyle and economic development.
The key to your success will be a written plan that serves the needs of your community. Local users who respect and enjoy the trail are the best volunteers. They can advocate support.
I help clients cultivate businesses around trail systems to raise money. Managing land is an expensive activity. To successfully organize your community-led maintenance needs, consider eco-tourism and lifestyle values.
Write us with your stories about trail management. I've got many years of trail design, maintenance, and promotion experience that may be of value to you. Let's keep our trails safe and accessible for many generations to come.
