Trail Maintenance

Trail Maintenance Skills Include:

    Maintenance Specifications

    Understand and apply common maintenance specifications/trail management objectives such as corridor height/width, tread width, cross/outslope, protrusions, obstacles, and water management techniques.

    Inventory & Assessment

    Demonstrate ability to assess trail conditions, identify causes of trail degradation (i.e. water, grades, soil conditions, users, and/or use patterns), and appropriate actions to address the deficiencies.

    Corridor Clearing: Power tools

    Safely use chainsaws and other power tools in trail development and maintenance and resource management.

    Corridor clearing: Hand Tools

    Use hand tools to safely remove small standing trees, hazard trees, fallen logs, brush, vegetation, rocks, or other impediments to trail tread construction to the specified trail corridor width and height.

    Tread Maintenance - Hand tools

    Restore trail to its designed specifications for tread width, cross/outslope, protrusions, and obstacles using hand tools.

    Tread Maintenance - Mechanized Equipment

    Mechanized Equipment. Restore trail to its designed specifications for tread width, cross/outslope, protrusions, and obstacles using mechanized equipment (e.g., compactors, mini-excavator, skid steer, trail dozer).

    Drainage Features/Water Management

    Construct/restore trail drainage features that decrease erosion , including knicks, grade dips, grade reversals, berms, ditches, and sheet drains.


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Resources for Trail Maintenance

Improve this skill

Upcoming trainings for Trail Maintenance

Real Trail Assessment: Seeing the Trail Through the Eyes of a Professional
American Trails
American Trails
Backcountry Rigging Techniques
Professional TrailBuilders Association
Professional TrailBuilders Association
Backcountry Rigging Techniques

April 21, 2023

Reno/Tahoe area, Nevada

Custom Trainings

Here's a list of Trainers with Trail Maintenance experience:

Scott

Scott Johnson

USDA Forest Service

Trainer Agency

Forest Grove, Or

Trail builder with the Forest Service for over 15 years. Have worked on a mobile trail crew for all…

Don

Don Kelly

USDA Forest Service

Trainer Agency

Marion, Va

I have over 32 years of experience performing conservation, trails, and construction related…

Larry

Larry Knutson

Penn Trails LLC

Contractor Trainer

Newville, Pa

Larry Knutson, founder and President of Penn Trails LLC, specializes in sustainable, natural…

Steve

Steve Kruger

Trainer Nonprofit

Portland, Or

Steve has worked in parks and natural areas for nearly 20 years, around San Francisco, Milwaukee,…

Larry

Larry Lechner

Trainer Higher Education

Bellvue, Co

Member of Center for Protected Area Management and Training at Colorado State University,…

Wendy

Wendy Lotze

Trainer Nonprofit Higher Education

Tucson, Az

I manage the Volunteer program at the Arizona Trail Association, organizing over 20,000 hours of…

Hire

Trail Workers with Trail Maintenance Experience

Nathaniel

Nathaniel Brodie

USDA Forest Service

Agency

Hood River, Or

Twenty-four ongoing years of professional experience working and managing iconic and high-use trail…

Robert

Robert Burgess

Contractor

Spanish Fort, Al

Experienced Contractor and retired military. Heavily involved in trail building through local IMBA…

Betsy

Betsy Byrne

National Park Service

Agency

Salt Lake City, Ut

I am a landscape architect with the National Park Service Rivers, Trails, and Conservation…

Lex

Lex Carey

Pulaski Users Group (PUG)

Nonprofit

Hailey, Id

With conservation corps, and USFS trail Crew experience under my belt I have shifted to the…

Jeremiah

Jeremiah Clark

National Park Service

Agency

Kula, Hi

I have trail maintenance and construction experience through Timberline Trailcraft LLC as a Trail…

Andy

Andy Crowley

Contractor Trainer

Ashland, Nh

Conservation Trail Services LLC. Working with private, non-profit, and…

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Collaborators
Federal Highway Administration USDA Forest Service National Park Service Bureau of Land Management
American Trails Professional TrailBuilders Association Partnership for the National Trails System Northern Vermont University Northwest Arkansas Community College Eppley Institute Corps Network