Hosted by www.AmericanTrails.org

Case Statement for National Trails Training Partnership

This paper is intended to provide a summary of NTTP principles; our mission is to promote cooperation on trail-related training (October 17, 2007).

Summary:

The National Trails Training Partnership (NTTP) is a nationwide partnership committed to making training for trails and greenways skills more available. The Partnership is seeking funding for several projects which will further that aim. These include:

• Making existing training available to non-profit groups and partnerships with public agencies.
• Documenting teaching sessions and outstanding expertise in formats that will make the information more widely available.
• Creating new skills workshops on most-requested topics with the help of experts.
• Bringing trail skills to youth employment groups, volunteers, and underserved populations.

Background:

The challenges shared by all trails advocates is the need for well-trained, effective volunteers and staff. Some trail groups have relied on experienced trail builders from the federal agencies, but the old-timers are fast retiring and new people with trails skills aren't necessarily being hired. In the same way, our volunteers don't always stick around for years, and training new people is hard work in itself.

Recognizing this need across America, a wide variety of agencies and national trail organizations representing all user groups have joined together to address the issue. The National Trails Training Partnership (NTTP) is an effort by trails advocates to improve opportunities for training for the nationwide trails community. The vision of the Partnership is "to ensure that the full range of skills, training, and resource information is available to trail groups, communities, tribal governments, and State and Federal agencies."

To put it another way, our goal is to help both staff and volunteers plan, design, enhance, build, interpret, protect, and maintain trails and greenways for all Americans.

Tasks:

Current key efforts of the National Trails Training Partnership include:

• Maintaining the online calendar of training opportunities at http://www.trailtraining.net
• Managing the online clearing house of of training contacts and information, which includes the extensive resources and archives of www.AmericanTrails.org
• Working to provide a Web page for each state with featured training providers, volunteer training organizations, and other resources.
• Maintaining a trail-related skills and competencies catalogue with links to publications, rresources, and training providers.
• Identifying and working with college and university training providers
• Providing an online home for studies, research papers, theses, training manuals, design guidelines, and other trail-related publications.
• Promoting resources and state-of-the art examples on planning, improving, and managing accessible trails for persons with disabilities.
• Promoting cooperation and information sharing on trail training at conferences, interagency meetings, and through communications with our many contacts in the trails community.

Supporters:

The National Trails Training Partnership has the support of all major Federal land management agencies, and the full range of non-profit organizations in the trails, greenways, and outdoor recreation fields. We work with State and regional agencies as well, and include all State Trails Programs in every State in our efforts. The NTTP Steering Committee is composed of these Partners:

• American Trails
• American Hiking Society
• American Motorcyclist Association
• Back Country Horsemen of America
• International Mountain Bicyclng Association
• Leave No Trace
• National Association of Service & Conservation Corps
• National Association of State Trail Administrator
• National Off-Highway Vehicle Conservation Council
• National Recreation & Park Association
• Partnership for the National Trails System
• Professional Trailbuilders Association
• Rails-to-Trails Conservancy
• Student Conservation Association
• Tread Lightly!

For More Information:

Please see the National Trails Training Partnership website at TrailTraining.net

Contact for NTTP is:

Pam Gluck, Executive Director
American Trails, P.O. Box 491797, Redding, CA 96049-1797
Phone (530) 547-2060 -- Fax: (530) 547-2035
Email: nttp@americantrails.org
www.AmericanTrails.org
www.TrailTraining.net

Webmaster: Stuart Macdonald

The National Trails Training Partnership is an alliance of Federal agencies, training providers, nationwide supporters, and providers of products and services. Visit the online calendar of training opportunities, access hundreds of trail-related resources, read the news, learn how you can help, and see training resources in your state.

This material is based upon work supported by the Federal Highway Administration under Cooperative Agreement DTFH61-06-H-00023. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the Author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the Federal Highway Administration.

Your New Year's resolution: learn new skills

National
Trails Training Partnership:

Who we are
Featured training
Training by state
Calendar
Search the training database

More resources:

Bibliography
Quotations
Glossary
Acronyms
Tools
Trailbuilding
Wildlife and trails
Planning
Maintenance
Volunteers
Products & services

Do you need training?
Do you have training opportunities you'd like to publicize?
Are you a trails expert who can teach trail skills to others?
The National Trails Training Partnership wants to work with you to make training more available.

Contact us!