About Trail Crews

One size does not fit all describes our trail crews, who do most of the heavy work of building and maintaining trails (anything beyond the capability of the maintainers). There are two types of crews:

• Regional crews report to the Chair of their region. Not all regions must have a Crew Chief. The Chair may take on that responsibiity and that is the default if they have not recruited a Crew Chief. Crews sometimes work outside their region at the invitation of a Chair. Crew members frequently work on several different crews whether regional or specialized.
• Specialized crews include: Sawyers and those who install rock steps, build large bridges, and even repair well water pumps.

How projects get done 

• Existing regional crews get a project assigned by the Chair.
• Specialized crews
• Club Crews - Jolly Rovers, RPHC Volunteers 
• MidAtlantic ATC Crew - available to work on AT projects - typically a week or two at a time
• Paid crews
• Individual specialists to join your crew (need a registry)
• Chairs or Supervisors gather a group for a special project and act as Crew Leaders reporting to themselves for the work done. These ad hoc groups accomplish needed work, sometimes on short notice. They can be as small as two friends doing several water bars or as large as a bridge building project taking place over several weeks with different leaders depending on their availability.
• Youth or corporate groups have requested a project. The latter is an eposidic group often for team building and used where a larger group with lower skills is needed. Some crew leaders take on this additional responsibility of managing these outside groups.Staff are a useful resource to help set up these projects (they may come to you, or you may approach them).
• In some areas at some times, Americorp crews are available to provide extra manpower to get work done quickly.

Training

• Chiefs and Leaders train the crew members for the work they need to perform.
• Staff is available for consultation whenever a crew has problems that they are not sure they know how to do properly and safely, and crews are strongly suggested to use these resources.
• There are usually less skilled or lighter jobs available. 
• TrailU provides many formal classes for particular skills, as well as introductory sessions for a foundation.
• Many long time crew members are also good instructors.

Recruting

• Wear you logo tee shirt or cap and chat with everyone who will listen as they pass your crew working on the trail.
• Enlist the section's maintainer to help repair his/her trail. They must be notified that you are working on their trail and may want to help or just watch.
• Contact our Volunteer Coordinator