Recap: Trail Crew Leader Training 2023
Sunday, April 2 marked the final day of our Trail Academy: Trail Crew Leader Training course. We had a jam-packed four days and are excited to welcome 8 new Trail Crew Leaders to the SCMTS team!
Who are Trail Crew Leaders and what do they do?
Trail Crew Leaders are the people you see at our trail work events in the glowing, orange shirts. They lead groups of volunteers in the field so that we can get more high-quality trail work done at events.
They’re your go-to person for all information at a trail work event—whether it’s wondering about a trail-building technique or if that plant you just touched was poison oak or not.
Trail Crew Leaders are an extension of the SCMTS team and are the sole reason we are able to host so many and such large volunteer trail work events, just ask Katie T… “Our Trail Crew Leaders are amazing. They’re practically staff. I mean, just look at what they enabled last year… volunteers gave 10,000 hours of their time to local trails and without our Trail Crew Leaders leading events, we wouldn’t have been able to come anywhere near that much time on the trails.” Because Trail Crew Leaders hold such an important role, we put them through a full weekend of training before they can earn their stripes (or neon orange shirts, in our case).
Why are there 4 days of training to become a Trail Crew Leader?
When people come out to a trail work event with us, our goal is for everyone to have an awesome experience. Everyone should have fun, be safe, learn something, and build trails. The having fun part, we hope, comes naturally. The rest falls into the hands of our Trail Crew Leaders, so it is essential for them to be prepared.
To help prepare, we have them go through our four-day course focused on volunteer management, leadership, trail maintenance, and trail construction. The course is split between online classroom time and field time. During the first two days of training, participants attend virtual presentations given by our team (Drew and Emma this year). The final two days are spent in the field putting their knowledge to the test and honing their trail skills.
Day 1: March 29, 2023
Trail Concepts for Crew Leaders presented by Drew Perkins
Day 1 was intro day. Our Trails Planning Director, Drew, gave an in-depth presentation on all things trails. 180 slides and 2 hours later, Drew had covered everything from thinking like a trail designer to trail terminology to building techniques and even mixed in a few pop quizzes. Enjoy nerding out on trails? You’ll want to sign up for this presentation next year…
Day 2: March 30, 2023
Intro to Volunteer Management and Leadership presented by Emma Ussat
Day 2 was in the hands of our Community Engagement Manager, Emma, to cover how to achieve the main goals of any trail work event; 1. Safety 2. Fun 3. Education. Emma gave a thorough presentation that included background information on the history of SCMTS and the trails of Santa Cruz, roles and duties of a Trail Crew Leader, tips on how to engage and lead volunteers, and a start-to-finish breakdown of a typical trail work event. Trail work is a natural strength of our prospective Trail Crew Leaders; it’s the teaching and managing volunteers part that might not come as easily, and is the reason Emma’s presentation is so important. You might be able to solve a calculus problem, but how easily can you teach someone the steps?
After Emma shared her recommended reading list, the team was off for the night to rest up ahead of their first day in the field.
Day 3: April 1, 2023
Field Day: Wilder Ranch State Park
Day 3 was the crew's first day in the field and they took to Englesmans Loop in Wilder Ranch State Park to put their trail maintenance knowledge to the test. All of the recent storms created a couple of “problem areas” along Engelsmans Loop, making it a great location to test maintenance skills.
On the trail, the group discussed concepts from Wednesday’s class before coming across a section of trail in need of grade reversals and drain work. Our SCMTS staff took a backseat and let the participants determine what the best course of action would be to solve the issues. Problem-solving is a big part of trail maintenance. After the group excelled at grade reversals and repairing drains, they made their way up the trail to the final challenge of the day: an uprooted oak tree (pictured below). After some brief deliberation, the crew decided to cut the root ball back from the trail tread and fill any remaining hole with soil from the root ball. After doing exactly that, the crew headed back to the cars to clean tools and prep for the final day. Bravo. Everyone passed field day 1 with flying colors!
Day 4: April 2, 2023
Field Day: Cotoni-Coast Dairies
The final day of 2023’s Trail Crew Leader training brought the team out to Cotoni-Coast Dairies to focus on new trail building and put themselves in the role of a Trail Crew Leader.
After everyone practiced their group introductions and safety talks, Drew showed everyone how to read a flagged trail. For the particular section they were working on, the flags represented the outside edge of the trail tread and the tread was to be built roughly 30” in from the flags. Each person took turns being a crew leader, demonstrating the proper technique for building the new trail—from cutting it in, to broadcasting material to back sloping, tool safety, everything.
After another successful day, the team headed back to the tool trailer to clean up and celebrate over some cold beverages. Eight new SCMTS Trail Crew Leaders are ready to hit the trails!
Congrats to the Class of 2023!
Kyle Johnston, Brian MacDonald, Roberto Monjes, Justin Morgan, François Ripault, Jon Sanders, Tristan Sayre, Matthew Watts
Pictured L to R: Mariano Villegas, Bronwen Street, Jon Sanders, François Ripault, Tristan Sayre, Justin Morgan, Kyle Johnston, Matthew Watts, Brian MacDonald, Roberto Monjes, Katie Teschler, Drew Perkins, Bruce Dorman
