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.
Trail Maintenance
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
Resources for Trail Maintenance
Documents and
Media
• Video Trainings
• Training Programs
• Calendar
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Documents and Media for Trail Maintenance
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.
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…
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…
Skill Library
Trail Maintenance
Trail Sustainability Principles
Safety/Site Management
Maintenance Specifications
Corridor Clearing/Site Preparation
Corridor Clearing: Pruning/ Side-Cutting/ Brushing
Corridor Clearing: Bucking, Felling/ Hazard Tree Removal; Chainsaw/ Crosscut
Corridor Clearing: Material and Debris Management
Tread Maintenance - Hand tools
Tread Maintenance - Mechanized Equipment
Drainage Features/Water Management
Training Calendar
Upcoming Trainings for Trail Maintenance
Custom Trainings
There are 86 trainers on TrailSkills
with Trail Maintenance experience
Alexander De Lucia
Bretton Woods, NH
Director of Trails & Recreation Management
Appalachian Mountain Club
Rick Landenberger
Morgantown, WV
Service Associate Professor and Science & Management Specialist for the West Virginia Land Trust
West Virginia University
Jonathan Szalewicz
Craftsbury Common, VT
Trails Volunteer Programs Supervisor
Appalachian Mountain Club
Hire Workers
There are 354 workers on TrailSkills
with Trail Maintenance experience
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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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