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Top Trailblazer
Last year, Great Smoky Mountains National Park hired the young & talented Christine Hoyer as its first-ever Backcountry Volunteer Coordinator.
Christine's extensive experience in working on trails included serving as Trails Foreman in the Park's South District (North Carolina), as well as leading the Konnarock and Rocky Top crews for the Appalachian Trail Conservancy.
She has been actively involved in supervisory trail work throughout the country since 2004, and her knowledge and outdoor skills are expansive.
Christine combines her tactical know-how with marketing savvy. Her ability to recruit and organize volunteers is a major asset to the Trails Forever program.
Additionally, Christine updates the Trails Forever website, maintaining current information about trail work schedules, volunteer needs, and completed project reports as part of the Coordinator's Corner.
Christine holds a chainsaw as well as degrees in research psychology and philosophy from Elizabethtown College. |
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National Trails Day 2010
National Trails Day is an annual tradition for many who love the Smokies.
They plan to spend the first Saturday in June every year building steps, clearing waterbars, cutting brush, hauling mulch, and creating turnpikes along the Appalachian Trail in the Smokies.
This year's plans were slightly derailed by the extended closure of Clingman's Dome Road, necessitating a
cut-off for new registrants before the work day approached.
But this year also marked the first time that the registration fees benefited Friends of the Smokies' Trails Forever program.
We extend a big, hearty THANK YOU to the volunteers who participated in the 14th Annual Appalachian Trail Workday on National Trails Day.
We also thank the Smoky Mountain Hiking Club's Appalachian Trail Maintainers Committee and the Appalachian Trail Conservancy for helping to raise more than $2,000 for Trails Forever.
George Ritter of the SMHC prepared the report below for
the Appalachian Trail Conservancy; George is the organizational whiz behind this event each year!
"The Smoky Mountains Hiking Club in association with Friends of the Smokies, Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the Appalachian Trail Conservancy held their 14th annual National Trails Day work outing on June 5, 2010.
A total of 130 workers put in 854 hours of work on the Appalachian Trail and traveled some 356 hours to get there and return. The group included three Boy Scout Troops, two from Knoxville and one from Athens, GA.
Some of our participants come every year from as far away as Mississippi, Ohio, and New Jersey. Nine of the workers hiked up to Spence Field on Friday, stayed overnight, worked all day Saturday and then hiked back down.
Our Trails Day volunteers are asked to register in advance and donate $15.00 to Friends of the Smokies. They receive a commemorative tee shirt. Additional funds, coffee and orange juice were donated by Citizens National Bank, Nantahala Outdoor Center's Great Outpost, Food City and Blue Smoke Coffee.
Work completed this year included a tremendous number of new waterbars and steps installed in some of the most heavily used sections of the Appalachian Trail. We also brushed out and groomed about nine miles of trail, cleaned up around one shelter and repaired its roof.
At the end of the day Friends of the Smokies treated the whole group to a terrific picnic barbeque sponsored by NOC's Great Outpost." |
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Greetings!
Friends of the Smokies' Trails Forever campaign is really a big deal! We are proud of the $4 million endowment that we are building through our members' & donors' support; once established it will fund a thrid, permanent trail maintenance work crew in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
During this endowment funding phase, work has already begun. In this newsletter, you'll meet the Trails Forever Coordinator and learn about the important work that's been accomplished and dollars that have been raised.
It's an exciting time to be a Friend of the Smokies; thank you for your support!
Holly Scott
Marketing Director |
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Spring Break Isn't For Sissies
Alternative Spring Breakers from UVA
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College spring breaks have historically been associated with sun, sand and revelry. But a new trend toward students making a difference for others in their time off is benefiting the Smokies.
Last year, three Alternative Spring Break college groups from the University of Virginia, New York University, and Georgia Southern University set the bar high. Their participation contributed to 73% of the 3,341 Trails Forever volunteer hours being performed by youth and young people. During 2009, 10.5 miles of trail were improved on Ramsey Cascades, Forney Ridge, Panther Creek, Miry Ridge, Mingus Creek, Newton Bald, Hemphill Bald, and Twentymile Cascades Trail.
According to the Park's Management Assistant Bob Miller, the 2010 Trails Forever season started off strong with six college spring break groups doing trail work in the Park. That's twice as many as last year!
It isn't too late to join the fun for 2010! Visit the Volunteer Page to download an application to join the crew! This season's schedule includes Friday workdays along the Forney Ridge trail, and at least one Saturday workday each month from April through October. |
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TrailsTrailer
The Trails Forevermobile
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The Trails Forever crew got a snazzy new trailer to haul all of their equipment. The graphics make it a rolling advertisement for trail improvements in the Smokies! |
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Reaching the Summit
Lindsay Young with his dog Aslan. |
In 2008, Friends of the Smokies began raising funds for Trails Forever to take advantage of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity from the Aslan Foundation of Knoxville. The Foundation challenged Friends to raise $2 million, to be matched dollar-for-dollar, in order to establish the $4 million Trails Forever endowment. Interest income from the endowment will fund a third permanent trail maintenance work crew to improve the Smokies' 800+ miles of hiking trails.
As we've told you here, much of the work accomplished by Trails Forever has been through the donation of thousands of volunteer hours. Through late April 2010, more than 2,600 hours have already been donated this year.
But the success of Trails Forever is also because of tremendous generosity. Friends of the Smokies has raised $1.5 million toward our $2 million goal. We are deeply indebted to the Aslan Foundation for issuing this challenge. Trails Forever is a lasting legacy for Aslan's founder Lindsay Young, who was a founding board member of Friends of the Smokies. It is also a proud legacy for Friends of the Smokies that you can be part of. Remember- every dollar is matched by the Aslan Foundation, making your gifts go twice as far! You can donate online!
A recent direct mail appeal to our members and supporters resulted in 400 new donors to Trails Forever and raised more than $36,000! We appreciate each and every dollar given to Trails Forever; it becomes $2 through the Aslan Foundation's support!
We recently launched the Tom Cronan Pathfinder Fund within Trails Forever to honor the late Tom Cronan. He was a husband, a brother, a father, a grandfather, a co-worker, and a friend. Tom inspired many as he forged his path as teacher, national pentathalon champion, courageous survivor of cancer, and as a tireless advocate for health and wellness.
We knew him as a hiker who literally sought out the entire path of the Appalachian Trails from Georgia to Maine but usually found renewal on his "home" trails in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
For all of these reasons, Tom's family and friends are working closely with Friends of the Smokies to establish the Tom Cornan Pathfinder Fund to support improvements to the Smokies 800+ miles of hiking trails.
The goal of the Tom Cronan Pathfinder Fund is $500,000. To-date, more than $425,000 in pledges have been received. To donate in memory of Tom Cronan, please contact Friends of the Smokies' Development Director Sarah Weeks at fotssw@bellsouth.net.
We thank our Fund co-chairs Sherri Lee and Ann Furrow for their hard work and dedication to Friends of the Smokies and Trails Forever!
Tom Cronan |
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Snapshot from the Trails
Volunteer Harold Babb's work crew on
National Trails Day.
In addition to the 130 volunteers who worked on National Trails Day in conjunction with the 14th Annual Appalachian Trail Workday going north & south on the A.T. from Newfound Gap, Christine Hoyer organized 85 more volunteers for the first-ever Trails Forever projects on National Trails Day. Christine's summary of what they accomplished is below-
"National Trails Day was indeed a success for the Trails Forever program! I held 4 events--- Trails Forever project on Grassy Branch Trail (NC), 14 volunteers; Trails Forever project on Crooked Arm Ridge Trail (TN), 25 volunteers; Adopt-A-Trail project on Deep Creek Trail (NC), 16 volunteers; Adopt-A-Trail/Adopt-A-Campsite Event to spread information about Leave No Trace at 13 of the major trailheads parkwide, 30 volunteers. It was a big day on the trails, and it was great to see so many visitors and volunteers engaged." |
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As you can see, there is so much happening with Trails Forever. Thank you for taking the time to read all about it. We hope you'll consider volunteering your time or giving of your financial resources to support this important program that is helping to preserve and protect Great Smoky Mountains National Park's special places and the life within them.
We also extend our deep appreciation to the Alcoa Foundation for their $50,000 grant to Friends of the Smokies to fund the work of the Trails Forever crew from 2008 to 2010.
Sincerely,
Holly Scott
Friends of Great Smoky Mountains National Park |
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