Sustainable Trail Bridge Design
Designing trail bridges based on trail-specific Trail Management Objectives (TMOs) is essential for providing the desired trail experience, for ensuring user safety, and for maximizing bridge longevity.
Field Design: Trail Alignment Identification and Marking
Skill Definition
Delineate the trail alignment, width, height, grade and structures appropriate to the intended trail use in the field with field flagging and GPS
Entry Level Performance
- Demonstrate ability to use a clinometer and apply to trail sustainability principles
- Demonstrate ability to follow the broad trail corridor in the field
- Demonstrate ability to identify positive and negative control points within a trail corridor
Full Performance Level
- Delineate the detailed trail alignment in the field (field flagging and/or GPS) integrating a suite of trail development components including: trail center line and feature location; turn location, size and type; location and type of water/wetland crossings; optimization of soil and slope field conditions; and other trail components defined in the conceptual plan
Expert Level Performance
- Create site-based design, compilation and specifications for the full suite of trail development components for a large and/or diverse trail system
Resources for Field Design: Trail Alignment Identification and Marking
Documents and Media
• Video Trainings
• Training Programs
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Documents and Media for Field Design: Trail Alignment Identification and Marking
Trail Skills College Course Curriculum
To help our volunteers succeed in their trail work, PCTA collaborated with many partners to develop a Trail Skills College curriculum.
USFS Standard Trail Plans and Specifications
The Standard Trail Plans and Specifications reflect current Forest Service trail management efforts and the agency’s Trails Data Dictionary for constructed features and tasks.
Appalachian Trail Design, Construction, and Maintenance
A handbook on trail work, from landscape values to the nitty-gritty of moving rock.
Guidelines for a Quality Trail Experience
In the context of mountain bike trails, excellence is realized when a trail design merges the desired outcomes and difficulty that a rider seeks with the setting in which the outcomes are realized.
Natural Surface Trails by Design
This groundbreaking book presents eleven generative concepts as the foundation for a concise process that explains, relates, and predicts what actually happens on all natural surface trails.
Trail Skills Training Library
Recorded Trainings for Field Design: Trail Alignment Identification and Marking
The Third Mode: Connecting Greenways, Trails and Active Mobility
his webinar covers the latest issues and policies in planning and designing urban mobility networks, and how to integrate transportation with greenways and trails to create seamless metro-wide systems.
Trail Planning and Design: Foundations of Success
This webinar will review several common approaches and technologies for trail planning and design projects and provide attendees with real world examples.
Digital Transformation of Trail Management and Monitoring
Mike Linnane of Evolve Technologies and award-winning Trail Manager Eoin Hogan will present on the development path of the world’s first integrated digital trail management system. The webinar will outline the evolution from a paper-based trail…
Porous Flexible Pavement, Asphalt, or Porous Asphalt: Lessons Learned for Multi-Use Trails in the District of Columbia
This webinar will discuss the various types of materials used for paved, multi-use trails in the District of Columbia. We will discuss different projects where we used flexi-pave, asphalt, or porous asphalt and our experience with each material. How…
Informing the Trail Experience: The Process of Signing a Trail
The webinar emphasizes learning about the trail and to determine what needs to be communicated, and where information is best posted.
Wilderness Trails: Special Places, Special Considerations.
This webinar will provide some basic information on trails in federally-designated Wilderness, examples of practical experiences, and resources to learn more. Presented by: Pete Irvine, retired, USDA Forest Service Dan Abbe, Wilderness Specialist,…
Further Education
Training Programs for Field Design: Trail Alignment Identification and Marking
Trail Sustainability Institute
The Trail Sustainability Institute (TSI) is NWTA’s internal training classes for everything related to trail building. We want to make sure our trail builders are knowledgeable in not only how to build/maintain fun trails, but ensure those trails…
Trails Certificate
Gain insight into best practices related to the design, construction and maintenance of trails. Learn about and apply techniques that can enhance, rehabilitate and protect trails and greenways. Participants will also learn about trail…
Sustainable Trails Development
The Sustainable Trails curriculum welcomes students from various fields who are interested in trails development, programming and management, as well as design.
PCTA Trail Skills Course
Because wildfires, wind storms, floods, gravity, and vegetation growth are constant threats to the PCT, the annual maintenance and reconstruction of the trail is a never-ending and monumental undertaking. Such work, historically carried out by…
Advancing Trails Webinar Series
American Trails brings agencies, trail builders, planners, architects, advocates, and volunteers the latest in state-of-the-art information on all aspects of trails and greenways. Our webinars focus on a variety of trail topics, usually applicable…
Skill Library
Project Planning and Design
Trail Sustainability Principles
Define Purpose, Need, and Feasibility of Project
Stakeholder Engagement
Land Use Plan Alignment
Corridor Planning
Trail Specifications
Conceptual Trail Plan Development
Field Design: Trail Alignment Identification and Marking
Project Cost Estimation
Trail Plan Development
Compliance and Permitting
Implementation Plan
Interpretation
Trail Inventory and Assessment
Operations and Maintenance Plan Development
Custom Trainings
There are 75 trainers on TrailSkills
with Field Design: Trail Alignment Identification and Marking experience
Jeremy Poore
Old Fort, NC
Coordinator - Trail Construction and Maintenance
McDowell Tech Community College
Leanna Joyner
Asheville, NC
Senior Director for Partnerships and Trail Operations
Appalachian Trail Conservancy
Hire Workers
There are 274 workers on TrailSkills
with Field Design: Trail Alignment Identification and Marking experience
Melissa Green
Silver City, NM
Trail Project Coordinator
Gila Chapter Back Country Horsemen of New Mexico
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Know of a good resource for this skill? Let us know! From webinars, to workshops, to PDFs, we'd like to add them to our resource library.
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