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.


Learn More

Resources for Trail Maintenance

How Volunteers Manage Water on the Appalachian Trail
How Volunteers Manage Water on the Appalachian Trail

Appalachian Trail volunteers play an active role in managing water on the footpath since moving water and standing water can damage the tread surface and surrounding areas. This video presents concepts of trail alignment, presents how to mitigate…

Evaluating Erosion
Evaluating Erosion

One important factor that we examine when we assess the condition of a trail is the effect that erosion is having upon the trail surface. This video covers three of the most obvious signs of trail erosion: loose rocks, cuts and areas of deposition.…

Hand Tool Field Maintenance
Hand Tool Field Maintenance

We rely on hand tools to lop branches, dig drain dips, remove slough and berm, construct waterbars and check steps, and much more. As a result, hand tools receive a great deal of wear and tear. Learn about the most common tool problems that are…

Addressing Erosion on the Trail
Addressing Erosion on the Trail

In the fifth video of this series, we take a look at techniques for addressing erosion issues on trails in arid environments. We'll review techniques such as rolling grade dips (drains), check dams/steps, waterbars and berm removal - discussing the…

Further Education

Related Training Programs

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Improve this skill

Upcoming Trainings for Trail Maintenance

2024 Columbia Cascades Trail Skills College
Pacific Crest Trail Association
Pacific Crest Trail Association
2024 Columbia Cascades Trail Skills College

April 26 - 28, 2024

Cascade Locks, Oregon

Trail Skills College
Appalachian Mountain Club
Appalachian Mountain Club
Trail Skills College

May 16 - 20, 2024

Trailkeepers University: Tread School - Wildfire Recovery Edition
Trailkeepers of Oregon
Trailkeepers of Oregon
Trail Skills Institute Modules 1&2
Arizona Trail Association
Arizona Trail Association
Trail Skills Institute Modules 1&2

May 18 - 19, 2024

Northern Arizona, Arizona

Custom Trainings

There are 53 trainers on TrailSkills
with Trail Maintenance experience.

Marc

Marc Hildesheim

National Off-Highway Vehicle Conservation Council (NOHVCC)

Contractor Trainer Nonprofit

Post Falls, ID

Caelan

Caelan Parker

USDA Forest Service

Trainer Agency

Mccall, ID

I am an early-career trails professional with the Forest Service. I have seven Agency field seasons…

William

William Jones

USDA Forest Service

Trainer Agency

Hood River, OR

In my sixth year working wilderness, motorized, and non-motorized trails for the Forest Service;…

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…

Kevin

Kevin Simpson

Mountain Surf Creative

Contractor Trainer Higher Education

Quincy, CA

Kevin founded Mountain Surf Creative in 2023 as a way to bring creative solutions to trail related…

Willie

Willie Bittner

Great Lakes Trailbuilders, LLC

Contractor Trainer Higher Education

La Crosse , WI

Willie Bittner started working on trails 25 years ago with the Wisconsin DNR and over the years he…

Search and sort all 53 trainers

Hire Workers

There are 217 profiles on TrailSkills
with Trail Maintenance experience.

Ryan

Ryan Ossola

Colorado Parks and Wildlife

Agency

Ridgway, CO

Elizabeth

Elizabeth Barber

Rocky Mountain Field Institute

Nonprofit

Colorado Springs, CO

I currently work as a Program Manager for Rocky Mountain Field Institute. My role involves the…

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…

Erin

Erin Amadon

Town 4 Trail Services LLC

Contractor Trainer

Troy, ME

Erin Amadon's passion for trail work began over two decades ago when she first served as a member…

Joe

Joe Welke

USDA Forest Service

Agency

Bend, OR

I currently lead trail projects and supervise a 6 person, Forest-wide crew on the Deschutes…

Samantha

Samantha Bragg

CorpsTHAT, Inc.

Nonprofit

Baltimore, MD

Search and sort all 217 workers

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Trail Skills 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