2023 Emerging Trail Leaders

Emerging Trail Leader Scholarship Recipient

Alexander DeGrenier

Sarasota, Florida, United States

Ever since I started working in the outdoors, I have become increasingly passionate about creating, preserving, and maintaining access to sustainable trails in the United States. I began my journey in Ruidoso, NM, participating in a year long Americorps program, EcoServants. During that time I developed a strong foundation of sustainable trail construction skills and design, building and maintaining trail across Lincoln County NM.

Concluding that, I moved to Port Angeles, WA, for another one year Americorps program with the Washington Conservation Corps. I served as the assistant supervisor on a crew doing maintenance in Olympic National Park. This experience was a polar opposite from the work I had done in NM- all trail maintenance, with heavy saw work, rigging, and carpentry. Additionally, lots of time spent in the backcountry.

Currently, I’m an independent contractor, building sustainable trail systems on private properties in the San Juan Islands of Washington. While I do ultimately aim to get back to building trail in public spaces, the opportunity to construct trails without a crew to work with me has been an immense learning experience, and has helped me grow my sustainable trail building skills exponentially.

Ultimately, I hope to lead and inspire the next generation of young professional trail workers. I have learned so many important things from those who taught me, and I believe it is my duty to continue to pass on that knowledge.