A clear trail can look simple from a hiker’s perspective: a defined path winding through the forest, an open route ahead, and a landscape ready to explore. Behind that experience, however, is plenty of hands-on conservation work.
Recently, an American Conservation Experience (ACE) Mountain West crew put their trail skills to work in Utah’s Dixie National Forest, completing maintenance along sections of the Great Western Trail near the Box-Death Hollow Wilderness.
The crew began on the Pine Creek section, completing trail maintenance before moving on to the McGrath section. There, crew members used their crosscut saw skills to clear downed trees and other obstacles from the route—some classic “cut and run†trail work.
Crosscut saws are an important part of ACE’s trail-work toolkit, particularly for projects in and around wilderness areas where motorized equipment may be restricted. ACE Conservation Crew members can receive specialized training in crosscut saw operation as part of their service, building practical skills they can carry into future conservation and land-management careers.
More Than a Clear Path
Removing downed trees and maintaining trail tread certainly makes a route easier for hikers and land managers to navigate, but the benefits of trail maintenance can extend beyond recreation.
The Pine Creek and McGrath sections border the Box-Death Hollow Wilderness and travel through the Pine Creek watershed, an area where the U.S. Forest Service is working to restore the riparian zone. Keeping the Great Western Trail clearly defined helps encourage visitors to remain on the established route rather than creating or widening informal paths near sensitive creek banks.
That makes trail maintenance part of a bigger conservation picture. A well-maintained trail can help concentrate recreational use in the places designed to accommodate it while reducing unnecessary disturbance to surrounding vegetation, soils, waterways, and habitat.
It’s also a great example of the type of work ACE crews regularly take on. Trail maintenance and construction are a significant part of ACE’s Conservation Crew program, alongside projects such as habitat restoration, invasive species removal, wildfire mitigation, forest thinning, wildlife monitoring, and historic preservation.
ACE crews work in professionally supervised teams, gaining hands-on experience while completing conservation projects in both frontcountry and backcountry environments. Training can include trail skills, crosscut saw operation, chainsaw operation, and wilderness medicine.
Did You Know?
The Great Western Trail is much bigger than any one stretch of trail. The trail system extends roughly 4,455 miles from Canada to Mexico, traveling through Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Utah, and Arizona. Along the way, it connects an incredible variety of landscapes.
Maintaining a trail system of that scale happens one section at a time. On this project, that meant ACE crew members putting their training into practice, clearing the way for the people who use and manage Dixie National Forest while supporting efforts to protect the landscape surrounding the trail.
It’s hard work with a straightforward result: a better-defined trail, improved access, and a little more protection for the natural resources alongside it.
Not bad for a beautiful day of cut and run.
