Secure funding to hire dedicated trail maintenance staff on non-motorized trails within Maryland's Western Region State Forests.
Impact
Awarded a 3-year trail maintenance grant, to establish continuous funds with dedicated staff
Ensured efficient deployment of trail maintenance resources by monitoring AllTrails usage trends and heatmap data
3,800 maintenance hours logged on 100 miles of non-motorized trails across three state forests
“Reviewing AllTrails data played an important role in identifying the need for broader programmatic trail maintenance effort within Western Maryland's State Forests."
Background
Maryland's Western Region State Forests contain over 200 miles of shared-use trails on approximately 130,000 acres.
Challenge
Trail maintenance backlogs resulting from deferred maintenance are a common problem across public lands. The lack of trail maintenance-specific funding and trail-dedicated field staff only exacerbates the problem, resulting in overgrown, impassable, and unsustainable trails. To advocate for funding, organizations typically need detailed reports of insights from visitors and trail reviews that document the maintenance that needs to happen.
Approach
Systematic, regular inspections of trails should be a part of any trail management program. Yet, it isn't possible for trail managers to have their boots and eyes on all trails all the time. Maryland had been monitoring trail condition trends through the AllTrails data dashboard, and they knew they needed to make progress on trail condition issues, so they:
Utilized AllTrails data to advocate for the need for broader programmatic trail maintenance funding
Amended an expiring trail maintenance grant to address user-reported trail condition issues on a 17-mile trail system as a test of the impact
Partnered with the Appalachian Conservation Corps trail crews to improve trail conditions and enhance user experiences
Reviewed AllTrails visitor insights and heatmap data to deploy targeted trail maintenance resources more efficiently
Outcome
Trail maintenance is a continuous process. No trail is ever truly complete, so the Maryland Forest Service applied for another grant, utilizing what they learned from the first few years.
Awarded a 3-year trail maintenance grant, which will kick off in the Spring of 2024 in partnership with the Appalachian Conservation Corps, who will complete the trail maintenance work
Maryland Forest Service will continue to monitor AllTrails usage trends and heat map data to ensure the most efficient deployment of trail maintenance resources
In the first year of the grant, the trail crews logged approximately 3,800 hours, targeting 100 miles of non-motorized trails across three state forests
