USDA Forest Service

Trail Construction and Maintenance Notebook

Summary

An updated edition of the industry standard, "Trail Construction and Maintenance Notebook," first released in 1996.

Overview

Why write another trail construction and maintenance guide? Good question. Since publication of the first edition of the "Trail Construction and Maintenance Notebook" in 1996, several excellent books about trail construction and maintenance have been published by the International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA), the Student Conservation Association (SCA), and the Appalachian Mountain Club, among others. At the same time, this notebook has remained popular, especially because of its pocket size and its wide availability through a partnership between the Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the Federal Highway Administration's Recreational Trails Program.

Based on helpful critiques of our earlier edition, we made numerous changes to reflect the latest thinking about constructing and maintaining trails. Much remains from the original edition.

True to our original intent, the Missoula Technology and Development Center (MTDC) has again pulled together basic trail construction and maintenance information, presented it in an easy-to-understand fashion, and oriented it to the needs of the trail worker. To keep the notebook's size manageable, we did not cover tasks such as detailed planning, environmental analysis, or inventory and monitoring. We've tried to make sure the notebook is consistent with current Forest Service policies and direction, but it is a practical guide for trail work, not a policy document. We worked to keep the notebook small and readable so it would end up in the packs of trail crew workers instead of under a table leg.

Trail Types Covered

General. All trail types are relevant.