filed under: volunteers
Use this library of resources, articles, and trainings to create an army of effective trail stewards.
by Taylor Goodrich, Communication and Media Specialist, American Trails
Trails provide safe access to the outdoors for hiking, biking, birding, horseback riding, trail running, off-highway vehicle use, and other forms of motorized and non-motorized recreation. They are the gateway and connections to nearly every facet of outdoor recreation, including fishing, hunting, wildlife viewing, camping, and more.
Trails are core infrastructure on which America's large and growing outdoor recreation sector of the economy is based, accounting for more than half of outdoor recreation-based economic activity and creating nearly 3.5 million jobs. These benefits are often received by small and rural communities. In 2018, outdoor recreation accounted for nearly $800 billion in economic activity, including $124 billion in tax revenues at the federal, state, and local levels. Economic sectors associated with outdoor recreation are growing faster than the national economy as a whole, particularly in regions where employment and economic opportunities in other sectors have declined.
Uniquely, the management and maintenance of our nation’s trail network is largely supported by trail stewardship organizations and volunteers who leverage government resources to maintain and expand our trails. Without this robust trail stewardship network, we will be unable to address the deferred maintenance needs which sustain the growth and productivity of the high-performing outdoor recreation economic sector.
Below, we have gathered resources that you can use to support your existing stewardship network or create a new one in an area that needs this critical workforce.
New and Upcoming Trainings
Past Webinars Available for Download
Tools and Resources From Around the Trails World
American Trails Past Articles
Published September 2020
Taylor Goodrich started with American Trails in January 2018 as Communication and Media Specialist. Taylor has worked with the National Recreation Trail (NRT) Ambassadors since the beginning of the program and has helped shape the program to where it is today. Taylor currently lives in Dallas, Texas, which is also where she grew up and where she attended the University of North Texas receiving her degree in History. While in college she started doing freelance work editing and writing, and also got into graphic design and discovered she loves the creativity and craft of digital arts. After college she traveled quite a bit, and lived in both the Pacific Northwest and in New Mexico, and while in both of those places took full advantage of what the outdoors had to offer. After moving back to Texas she started moving towards doing graphic design, social media, and communications work full time, and she has contracted with several companies from tech startups, to music festivals, to law firms, to grow their social media and digital communications presence. Taylor loves hiking and kayaking especially, and is glad to be working with an organization that fights for further accessibility and stewardship of our nation’s trails. She feels very lucky that in this position she will be able to use her professional skills and passion for something she is also very personally passionate about, and in helping to grow American Trails.
Contact: [email protected]
Celebrating Women Who Care for Trails
Cathy Corlett, American Trails Director of Strategic Communications, joined Trailkeepers of Oregon's women-only trail work party to find out more about the work being done and the women who opt to spend their Sunday working on the trail, even when the weather conditions are less than ideal.
Affinity and Identity-Based Crews and Programs
The purpose of this guide is to highlight the work of service and conservation Corps who develop and manage identity-based programs and crews, discuss the intention and purpose of these crews, why they are important, and how they have been transformational experiences for Corpsmembers and partners.
Volunteers for Outdoor Arizona Crew Leader Manual
This manual has been written to aid crew leaders working with trail work volunteers. It assumes the following priorities, in order of importance, for every volunteer trail work event: 1) Safety, 2) Enjoyment, 3) Quality product, 4) Productivity.
Colorado Trail Foundation Crew Leader Handbook
As a crew leader you represent the CTF. One of your main jobs is to convey the CTF’s thanks to the volunteers for their commitment to making and preserving The Colorado Trail as a national treasure.
