Why and How You Should Engage
Join U.S. Forest Service Trail Program leadership and partner organizations representing all different trail-users from around the country in a deep dive exploration of the 10 Year Trail Shared Stewardship Challenge (10YTC).
Presented by:
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March 17, 2022
10:00 AM to 11:30 AM (Pacific Time) {more time zones}
Cost (RECORDING):
FREE for membersNote:
Closed Captioning is available for this webinar.
Learning Credits are available for this webinar.
This webinar is free. Would you consider a donation to support this webinar?
Join U.S. Forest Service Trail Program leadership and partner organizations representing all different trail-users from around the country in a deep dive exploration of the 10 Year Trail Shared Stewardship Challenge (10YTC). We will identify the objectives, goals, and metrics of success for this game-changing program for trails on Forest Service lands. We'll also hear from a wide variety of partner organizations about why this program is important and identify very specific ways that any organization or individual can get involved. This will be an interactive and thought-provoking session that we hope will inspire you to get involved in helping to make our nation's largest trail system (nearly 160,000 miles of trails!) more sustainable and enjoyable for everyone for years to come.
The presenters will discuss the following respective programs within their organization:
This webinar qualifies as a Health, Safety, and Welfare (HSW) course (via LA CES).
USDA Forest Service
Continental Divide Trail Coalition
American Hiking Society
National Wilderness Stewardship Alliance (NWSA)
American Trails
Recreate Responsibly Coalition
Brenda Yankoviak, National Trail Program Manager, Washington Office – Recreation, Heritage, & Volunteer Resources, USDA Forest Service
Lakewood, CO
Brenda serves as the National Trail Program Manager for the US Forest Service, based out of Lakewood, CO. She has over 20 years of experience working for the Forest Service in recreation and trail program management. She has been fortunate to have experience working at all levels of the agency, from the field to the national level, and in the beautiful states of Minnesota, Montana, Idaho, Washington, and Colorado. Brenda holds a bachelor’s degree in anthropology from James Madison University and a master’s degree from the University of Montana-Missoula in recreation resource management. She is an avid outdoors person who enjoys most every form of recreation, especially when joined in activities by her husband and two daughters.
Mike Passo, Executive Director, American Trails
Marshfield, Wisconsin
Mike Passo is the Executive Director of American Trails. Mike has also served as the Executive Director of the Professional Trailbuilders Association and the owner and operator of a sea kayak outfitter called Elakah Expeditions. Mike has led groups of all backgrounds, ages and abilities on sea kayak expeditions in the San Juan Islands of Washington, Vancouver Island in British Columbia, and in Glacier Bay, Alaska. Mike has conducted an extensive study of outdoor developed areas nationwide to determine the cost implications of construction according to proposed Americans with Disabilities Act standards, and a Congressional study on improving access to outdoor recreational activities on federal land. He has a B.S. in Recreation Resource Management from the University of Wisconsin—Madison, including three years’ coursework in Landscape Architecture and Civil Engineering. He has presented on Universal Design and Programming at several national conferences and served on the Board of Directors of American Trails since 2000. His love of the outdoors and his own paraplegia has given him a great interest in the creation of an accessible outdoor environment that does not ruin the characteristics and value of that environment.
Kate Van Waes, Executive Director, American Hiking Society
Silver Spring, Maryland
Kate joined American Hiking in 2017. She brings a wealth of advocacy experience from the ONE Campaign, where she was a Policy Director, setting policy and strategic direction for ONE in the areas of agricultural development, hunger and nutrition, climate change, energy poverty, women and girls, trade, and development in fragile states. Prior to ONE, Kate served as Chief of Staff and Senior Policy Advisor in Secretary Clinton’s Office of Global Food Security, helping to lead the Obama Administration’s flagship global hunger initiative, Feed the Future. Kate joined the State Department initially under a fellowship with the American Association for the Advancement of Science and focused on the intersection of emergency humanitarian aid and terrorism and hunger-related United Nations negotiations. She started her career as a planetary and glacial geologist, participating in several NASA Mars missions and working with the International Space Science Institute in Bern, Switzerland, the University of Copenhagen’s Neils Bohr Institute, and the Smithsonian Center for Earth and Planetary Studies. She earned her Ph.D. in Geological Sciences from Brown University in 2004. Kate hails from Montana, where she developed a deep passion for spending as much time outdoors as possible. She and her equally outdoorsy husband and two daughters live in the ancestral lands of the Piscatoway (now known as Silver Spring, MD).
Teresa Martinez, Executive Director and Co-Founder, Continental Divide Trail Coalition
Santa Fe, NM
For over 30 years, Teresa has worked professionally to increase awareness, engagement, access, and stewardship of our entire National Trails System. A graduate of Virginia Tech, Teresa holds a B.S. and M.S from the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife in the College of Natural Resources. Teresa is a life long outdoor recreationist and from 1987-2007 she worked for the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, from 2007 to 2012 she worked for the Continental Divide Trail Alliance and since 2012 she has been the Executive Director (and co-founder) of the Continental Divide Trail Coalition. She serves on the Trail Leadership Council of the Partnership for the National Trails System and has served as the Chair of the Federal Advisory Committee to aid the USFS in the development of the Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail. Teresa is actively involved in the creation of equitable spaces for all people in the outdoors and currently serves as the acting chair of the Board for the Next100 Coalition.
In 2019,Teresa was honored by the Virginia Tech College of Natural Resources as the recipient of the Gerald Cross Alumni Leadership Award. When not working on behalf of one of our National Trails, Teresa may be found exploring trails in and around Santa Fe, NM, by bike, horse, and foot and is always up for a discada with friends in cool outdoor places!
Randy Rasmussen, Director of Public Lands and Recreation, Back Country Horsemen of America
Corvallis, Oregon
Since 2012, Randy has represented Back Country Horsemen of America—a widely respected national, non-profit volunteer service organization, www.bcha.org. He assists BCHA’s 32 state organizations to advance policy initiatives and strengthen partnerships to ensure that current and future generations will continue to enjoy access to back country and Wilderness experiences. Prior to joining BCHA, Randy was senior policy manager for the American Hiking Society and worked for other national, non-profit organizations. He was a founding board member of Trailkeepers of Oregon, a volunteer trail maintenance organization. Randy earned a Masters of Science degree in Natural Resources, Recreation & Tourism at Colorado State University with an emphasis in public lands and wilderness management.
Valerie Rupp, Executive Director, Partnership for the National Trails System (PNTS)
Randy Welsh, Executive Director, National Wilderness Stewardship Alliance
Bend, Oregon
Randy Welsh is the Executive Director of the National Wilderness Stewardship Alliance (NWSA). He is recently retired from the US Forest Service after a 36 year career, having served in protected area management with emphasis on wilderness and rivers. Randy spent time in Washington DC as the National Program Leader for Wild and Scenic Rivers and as Assistant Director of Recreation, Heritage and Volunteer Resources. He was a Regional Wilderness Specialist in the Intermountain Region working on wilderness and rivers issues for over 16 years before moving to Washington. Married, with two grown daughters, Randy recently moved to Bend, Oregon, and enjoys river trips, wilderness hikes, and visits with friends and family.
We are offering closed captioning for our webinars, thanks to a partnership with VZP Digital. If you are in need of this service, please email us prior to the webinar. An unedited transcript will be sent to all attendees following the webinar.
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Learning credits are free for attendees for American Trails webinars and the International Trails Symposium, as well as for other conferences, webinars, and workshops we offer credits for. Learn more here.
While we may individually agree (or disagree) in whole or in part with any or all of the participants, the views expressed in these webinars are not necessarily representative of the views of American Trails as an organization or its board and staff. Unless specific situations are noted by presenters, nothing in American Trails webinars should be considered to be interpreted as a standard.
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3,627 views • posted 02/09/2022
