Project Planning and Design Skills Include:

Trail Sustainability Principles

Understand and apply principles of trail sustainability to all components of project planning and design.

Define Purpose, Need, and Feasibility of Project

Use primary data (e.g., stakeholder outreach, trail use data, trail counters) and secondary data (e.g., planning documents, natural and cultural resource survey information, and site-specific resource limitations including soils, hydrology, geology, slope) to define the purpose of the proposed project, the need that it will meet, and its feasibility.

Stakeholder Engagement

Identify stakeholders from interested individuals, agencies, and organizations to inform an outreach strategy and engage stakeholders in a transparent, authentic, and meaningful way.

Land Use Plan Alignment

Identify elements of the general management, forest, or comprehensive resource management plans as they relate to the trail project.

Corridor Planning

Collect, analyze and integrate spatial data and field collected data to identify potential areas (broad corridors) that meet the project purpose and need, and establish potential areas of avoidance (heritage, old growth, riparian, etc.).

Trail Specifications

Identify trail specifications (i.e. tread surface, trail width, trail corridor height, grades, cross slope, turning radius, obstacles/protrusions, and structures) that match the project purpose, need, and resources.

Conceptual Trail Plan Development

Integrate and assess the data collected during the trail planning process (i.e. trail use, stakeholder input, land use plans, spatial data/analysis and field data) to develop a conceptual trail plan that identifies trail corridor, site-specific trail specifications and matches the project need, purpose and resources.

Field Design: Trail Alignment Identification and Marking

Delineate the trail alignment, width, height, grade and structures appropriate to the intended trail use in the field with field flagging and GPS.

Project Cost Estimation

Ability to determine cost of project construction, maintenance and related oversight, permitting and planning (including tools, consumables, volunteer and staff time, equipment, materials), locating sources of professional and technical assistance.

Trail Plan Development

Transfer field-delineated trail design (location, alignment, structures), along with construction process, materials, notes, special conditions into a trail planning document that will guide the trail development process.

Compliance and Permitting

Ensure compliance with applicable permitting requirements including (but not limited to): National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA), Section 106 of the Antiquities Act, the Historic Preservation Act, National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES), local and regional and permitting, water/wetland crossings, environmental review compliance, etc.

Implementation Plan

Accurately interpret specifications, construction process notes, and construction documents to develop an implementation plan based on available labor and funding.

Interpretation

Identify specific interpretive and educational opportunities on trails to contextualize the visitor experience (e.g., history, habitats, scenery, flora/fauna), and make recommendations for interpretive method.

Trail Inventory and Assessment

Inventory and assess existing trails and their conditions, identifying causes of trail degradation (e.g., water, grades, soil conditions, users, and/or use patterns) and the appropriate actions to address the deficiencies.

Operations and Maintenance Plan Development

Transfer field data, spatial data, and land management plan information into an operations and maintenance plan that will direct ongoing trail management including: maintenance specifications, seasonal maintenance schedule, operational protocols, and, risk management protocols.

Resources for Project Planning and Design:

Documents and Media • Video Trainings • Training Programs • Calendar
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Documents and Media for Project Planning and Design

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.

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.

Signs, Trails, and Wayside Exhibits

This sourcebook is a comprehensive, visual guide to planning, designing, and fabricating effective wayside exhibits, information signs, and trails. Over 400 photographs from interpretive sites around the world illustrate effective techniques for…

Trail Fundamentals and Trail Management Objectives

This publication provides comprehensive guidance and instructions for applying Trail Fundamentals and Trail Management Objectives. This recently published version includes the original 2008 content, along with updated photos and formatting.

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.

Accessibility Guidebook for Outdoor Recreation and Trails

This guidebook was written to help designers and managers apply FSORAG and FSTAG to their work and to pro- vide guidance for integrating accessibility into outdoor recreation site and trail projects.

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Trail Skills Training Library

Recorded Trainings for Project Planning and Design

Access Versus Accessibility

The webinar will discuss the distinction between access versus accessibility and will discuss and show examples of increasing trail access and accessibility by focusing on four areas using a DEIAB lens: Information, Language, Experience/Environment,…

Navigating NEPA in Trail Development

This webinar is a deeper dive into NEPA as an extension of a past webinar: Approvals, Permitting and Compliance (2023). This webinar will help answer key questions related to NEPA and trail development.

Innovative Development of a Year-Round, Destination Trail System in a Rural Area

Learn about one organization’s innovative approach to building and maintaining a trail system that serves as a model for communities around the country.

Trail Towns 101: Strategies, Tools and Inspiration to Make Trails Work for Your Community

Put the transformative power of trails to work. This inspiring course is a call to action, a source of new ideas, and a practical guide for communities looking to harness the benefits of their local trails. Ideal for trail lovers, local leaders, and…

Creative Placemaking Deep Dive: Moving from Ideas to Community Impact

Join us for an engaging and interactive seminar series designed to transform your understanding and application of Creative Placemaking as a practice of using arts, culture, and design to bring people together, reshape community spaces, (re)vitalize…

Geotourism Workshop: Put the Locally Driven Destination Development, Stewardship and Marketing Approach to Work for Your Community

Learn how to put Geotourism to work for your community. Introduced more than 20 years ago through National Geographic, this community-led approach has been used by destinations around the world to guide development, catalyze locally driven…

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Further Education

Training Programs for Project Planning and Design

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…

IMBA Trail Solutions Advanced Trail Building School

Partner with IMBA Trail Solutions and create with confidence. By deploying a complete range of skills–including visioning, detailed design, professional construction, and training for stewardship–our comprehensive approach saves resources.

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…

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