Emerging Trail Leader Scholarship Recipient

Dean Arnold

Phoenix, Arizona, United States

I would be thrilled to attend the International Trails Symposium as an Emerging Leader for the opportunity to honor Hulet Hornbeck by developing myself with other ambitious people. I endeavor to create a legacy of my own by solving problems at the intersection of social equity, resource conservation, and resilient business practices – what is recognized now as ‘sustainability’. There is a clear match between this career goal of mine and my background and the expected activities and qualifications for this scholarship.

I recently graduated from ASU with a degree in Sustainability with certification in Geographic Information Systems, and now work at Arizona State Parks and Trails (ASP&T) as an AmeriCorps Intern.

After 6 months of working with ASP&T, I implemented solutions that exceeds the expectations of intern level work. For instance, I created a GIS Mobile Application to reduce our statewide inspection time by 20 days a year. I also wrote our first Sustainability Policy and Plan and created our Sustainability

Advisory Committee with senior staff. Now, I am working on data collection at our state parks so that we can enhance our trails system. By the time of the symposium, I will have hiked and documented over 160 trails and will have improved our trails management and public facing maps.

Attending ITS will be an excellent opportunity for me share my experience working within ASP&T. I am interested in the prospect of meeting other passionate individuals and contributing to the learning capacity of the American Trails community by participating in education sessions, professional development activities, and bonding with my mentor and cohort. I would be happy to present on my experience at the ITS to demonstrate my ardor for trails and open spaces.