REI Donates $10,000 To Friends of The Smokies

The REI Store Asheville recently presented a $10,000 grant to Friends of the Smokies to benefit the Trails Forever, a program that supports trail improvement projects in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

According to a report in the Cherokee One Feather, the grant money was used to purchase a new equipment trailer to help transport tools and supplies, and to help support a seasonal trail crew that oversees the trail work.


Jeff
HikingintheSmokys.com NEXT ->>...

Trails Forever Volunteer Fall Workdays

There are still several dates left this year if you wish to help out with the Trails Forever program. Crews will be working 3 or 4 day weekends through October 16th.

Over the summer the Trails Forever crews have focused their work on the Forney Ridge Trail. In 2009 crews reconstructed about 1.2 miles of trail from the Clingmans Dome parking lot to Andrews Bald. Completing the work on the remainder of the trail has been the primary goal for this year. Earlier in the year, Trails & Facilities Volunteer Coordinator, Christine Hoyer, set aside a schedule of 72 days in which volunteers will be needed to help with this project. There are a total of 21 work days left this year.

Volunteers will work to complete a variety of trail maintenance and trail rehabilitation work, from cleaning drains, modifying structures, constructing additional drainage features, and adding fill material to structures as needed. There will be a limit of 5 volunteers for each of the Forney Ridge Workdays and you must sign up at least one week in advance to volunteer with the crew!.

For more information, and to sign up, contact Christine Hoyer, Trails & Facilities Volunteer Coordinator at 828-497-1949 or christine_hoyer@nps.gov.


Jeff
HikingintheSmokys.com NEXT ->>...