Trail Maintenance Skills Include:

Trail Sustainability Principles

Understand and apply principles of trail sustainability to all components of trail maintenance

Safety/Site Management

Plan and manage the trail maintenance site to meet safety and resource protection goals and requirements

Maintenance Specifications

Understand and apply common maintenance specifications, including corridor height/width, tread width, cross/outslope, protrusions, obstacles, and water management techniques

Corridor Clearing/Site Preparation

Clear the corridor and prepare the site (brushing, logging out, hazard tree removal, rock/stump removal) in preparation for maintenance using proper pruning techniques

Corridor Clearing: Pruning/ Side-Cutting/ Brushing

Use pruning and brushing techniques to maximize safety, minimize visual impacts and support healthy trailside vegetation

Corridor Clearing: Bucking, Felling/ Hazard Tree Removal; Chainsaw/ Crosscut

Felling, brushing, bucking and limbing logs of various sizes safely using proper, well-maintained equipment

Corridor Clearing: Material and Debris Management

Materials and debris removal from corridor using low impact techniques, according to project and resource protection requirements

Tread Maintenance - Hand tools

Using hand tools, maintain a trail to its designed specifications for tread width, cross/outslope, protrusions, and obstacles using hand tools and minimizes off trail impacts

Tread Maintenance - Mechanized Equipment

Safely use mechanized trail equipment (e.g., mini-excavators, skid steers, trail dozers, compactors) to maintain trail to meet maintenance specifications for tread width, cross/outslope, protrusions and obstacles and minimizes off trail impacts

Drainage Features/Water Management

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

Learn More

Documents and Media for Trail Maintenance

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.

Appalachian Trail Design, Construction, and Maintenance

A handbook on trail work, from landscape values to the nitty-gritty of moving rock.

Great Trails: Providing Quality OHV Trails and Experiences Guidebook

The definitive guide for the planning, designing, constructing, managing and maintaining Off-Highway Vehicle (OHV) trails.

Pennsylvania Trail Design & Development Principles

A compilation of best practices and guidelines for the planning, design, construction, and management of your trail employing sustainable design.

Bike Parks: IMBA's Guide to New School Trails

This book examines all phases of planning, designing, building, and operating these facilities, with real-world success stories and multiple essays provided by leaders in the field.

Lightly on the Land

In addition to conservation crew leadership and risk management, Lightly on the Land presents the nuts and bolts of trail construction and maintenance.

Search for more resources ->

Trail Skills Training Library

Recorded Trainings for Trail Maintenance

Vegetation Design for Trailbuilders: Controlling Erosion and Creating Habitat with Minimal Horticulture Experience and Resources

With the increasing public demand for native plants and a push to find alternatives, learn from one landscape architect’s experience developing prairies in a variety of environments.

Sustainable Equestrian Trails From Grant Funding to Project Success

This webinar aims to introduce you to the fundamentals of managing a sustainable horse farm. This is part two of a two-part series related to sustainability.

Trail Bumps: Lessons Learned from Removing 1,000 Bumps

This webinar focuses on lessons learned from removing over 1,000 bumps from an 18-mile paved trail.

Barn to Trail: Managing Sustainability on Equine Properties

Hosted in partnership with the Equine Land Conservation Resource, this webinar aims to introduce you to the fundamentals of managing a sustainable horse farm. This is part one of a two-part series related to sustainability.

Trail Assessment for Accessibility and Sustainability

This webinar will explore the process of assessing natural surface pedestrian trails for accessibility and sustainability and will focus on developing new trails as well as conversion of existing trails.

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…

Search for more recorded trainings ->

Further Education

Training Programs for Trail Maintenance

IMBA Trail Care Schools

Trail Care Schools equip volunteers and organizations with the skills necessary to maintain modern mountain bike trails in partnership with the local land management. This course will begin with sustainable trail design principles, such as drainage…

IMBA Trail Management Schools

This school is typically two days in length with IMBA instructor(s) traveling to your location to deliver the class to staff or members. Instructors arrive the day before to assess the site and do any necessary preparations. Organizations, clubs, or…

Sustainable Trail Building One Year Certificate Program

In this one-year certificate program, you’ll have boots-on-the-ground at Northwoods Stewardship Center in East Charleston, VT for three individual week-long intensive classes. You will grow your knowledge base and connect with trail building…

Trail Academy

Trail Academy is our free class series that teaches students how to tackle any trail-related challenge. Courses are hosted both in the field and online, and are a great starting point for anyone looking to become a certified Trail Crew Leader or…

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…

See all training programs ->