American Trails

​​Foundations of Sustainable Trails: Tools

Summary

​​​​Explore foundational concepts related to the safe trail use—all through the lens of developing and maintaining a sustainable trail. The course will outline the types of tools for trail work, their use in construction and maintenance, as well as the importance of good safety practices when using tools to work on trails.​

Overview

The Foundations of Sustainable Trails: Tools course is an introductory course targeted to developing trail workers. This course serves as an introduction and overview to the foundational concepts related to safe trail use—all through the lens of developing and maintaining a sustainable trail. This course will introduce principles of trail jobsite safety, differentiate between types of tools, align commonly used tools to their uses, and identify indicators for when tools need repair or maintenance. Topics include safe tool use, categories of tools (such as brushing tools, digging and tamping tools, and power tools), tool length and materials, groups of tool users, tool repair, and much more. This course was developed jointly by American Trails and the Eppley Institute for Parks and Public Lands at Indiana University. 

Course Schedule

• Interactive practice activities
• Learn More opportunities
• Supplemental reference materials
• Informal checks for understanding
• Final quiz

Course Chapters: ​​

• Safety
• Tools
• Choosing the Right Tools
• Tool Repair & Maintenance

Course Objectives

Be able to:

• Explain overarching principles of trail jobsite safety through using tools as the context.
• ​Differentiate between different categories of trail tools.
• Match commonly used hand tools to their uses in trail construction and maintenance.
• ​Recognize indicators for when tools may need repair or maintenance​.

Recommended Background

This is an introductory course for developing trail workers. These include individuals who may have limited formal experience in construction or maintenance—but are eager to learn!

We encourage all enrollees of Foundations of Sustainable Trails courses to first complete the microlearning: Foundations of Sustainable Trails: A Trail from Start to Finish.

Trail Types Covered

General. All trail types are relevant.