Student volunteers: working with Kansas City WildLands is a service learning requirement for several local college ecology and botany classes


The future of trails: Volunteers O


By Taylor Goodrich, Communication and Media Specialist, American Trails


utdoor recreation is an $887 bil- lion industry that is, in many ways, built on the backs of vol- unteers. The logic of this is simple: almost all outdoor recreation activities involve trails in some capacity, and trails are possible because of an army of volunteers.


These dedicated individuals work enthusiastically alongside land manag- ers and trail-building professionals, to build and maintain pathways of all kinds. It is no wonder, given these facts, that we are increasingly seeing innova- tive volunteer-based programs all over the country, investing in creating a well- trained volunteer force for trails and outdoor spaces.


6 SPRING 2019 AmericanTrails.org


Jolly Rovers One such organization is the Jolly


Rovers Trail Crew, based in New York. The origin of the Jolly Rovers goes back to 2008, when the relocation of the Appalachian Trail in New York’s Bear Mountain State Park, which was being managed by the New York/New Jersey Trail Conference, was in its second proj- ect year.


This decade-long project was mas-


- ty, and involved harvesting natural stone from the park, splitting and shap- ing it into stairs, and installing it in place to create steps to the summit of Bear Mountain.   work, volunteers were welcomed to train and build alongside the profes-


sionals. Chris Ingui, who had recently  the call of the trail and quickly became a full time volunteer. Taking full advan- tage of training opportunities, Chris stepped into a leadership role onsite, directing other volunteers on projects. After three years of dedication Chris thought that the skills he and the rest of the core group of project volun- teers had acquired would be helpful on  two other crew members, Artie Hidalgo and Bob Brunner, to create a roving group of volunteers, known as the “Jolly Rovers.”


When both Hidalgo and Brunner


agreed it was a fantastic idea, the three brought on ten other volunteers, and the trail crew was born. From those beginnings the crew has grown into


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