Trail Sustainability
PEC Trail Sustainability Overview
Trail Sustainability
The Pennsylvania Environmental Council (PEC) is committed to sustainable trail maintenance as a crucial piece of our outdoor recreation portfolio. Today, maintaining existing trails is equally as important as building new trails, and PEC is deeply involved in both of these efforts across the state. Read on below for additional information on some of PEC’s leading initiatives related to trail sustainability and maintenance.
PEC Trail Maintenance Assessment Guide
Over the past five decades, communities across the country have built thousands upon thousands of miles of multi-use trails – essential infrastructure that connects people to nature, recreation, and each other. As these integral pieces of our public infrastructure age, trail owners, managers, maintainers, volunteers, and users must be prepared to address the critical need of ensuring the long-term sustainability of these facilities. While the need for increased maintenance funding is well known, even well-funded trail systems can fall short without the right knowledge, tools, and strategies in place. That’s why the Pennsylvania Environmental Council (PEC) has developed the Trail Maintenance Assessment Guide: A Visual Reference for Evaluating & Sustaining Multi-Use Trails. Packed with real-world examples, photographs, and practical recommendations, this guide explores common maintenance issues, their root causes, and proven solutions. See below for a recording of a webinar PEC hosted on the Guide, an interactive read-only copy of it, and an intake form to get yourself on a waitlist for a physical copy.
Learn more about the Trail Maintenance Assessment Guide on this episode of Pennsylvania Legacies, featuring PEC Vice President of Western Pennsylvania Brett Hollern and Program Manager Zhenya Nalywayko:
Trail Maintenance Assessment Guide intake form
If you're interested in putting your name on a waitlist for a physical copy of PEC's Trail Maintenance Assessment Guide for a nominal fee, and / or to see how your organization could utilize the Trail Maintenance Toolkit on your own trail, fill out the intake form below, and we'll be back in touch with you soon.
Trail Maintenance Toolkit (TMT)
PEC has recognized the challenges trail managers and organizations face sustaining trails and their accompanying infrastructure and amenities over the long haul. In response, a need was recognized for a cheap, effective and intuitive tool to assist in inventorying, assessing and tracking maintenance as part of a healthy management and operations ecosystem. The Trail Maintenance Toolkit (TMT) is a combination phone application and web-based desktop program which allows users to easily, accurately, and quickly collect data related to their trails and trail features. This tool allows users to plot points in real time in the field on a GIS map to document trail features, evaluate the feature’s condition, provide a photograph, and add text notes.
PEC’s TMT is intended for use by trail planners, managers, and maintenance teams to streamline their trail maintenance processes. The TMT is powered by an ESRI application called Field Maps that users are able to download to their phones and use with or without a data connection. The phone app is complemented by a desktop version holding all catalogued trail data, allowing users to archive, filter, manipulate, and share information as they wish via the TMT or by exporting to a spreadsheet.
Additionally, the TMT offers users the following features:
- Real-time cataloguing and prioritizing of trail features, amenities, and maintenance needs
- Geo-location services for catalogued data, with or without a data connection, allowing users to accurately locate issues logged in the field from the office or for a return trip
- The ability to update and maintain a unique, private, and customizable map of your organization’s trail or trail network
Learn more about the Trail Maintenance Assessment Guide and how to use the TMT in this informational webinar:
TMT TOOL
Explore the Pennsylvania Environmental Council’s (PEC) new simple, cost-effective trail maintenance tool. PEC’s Trail Maintenance Toolkit (TMT) provides users with a platform to catalogue features on the trails they manage, allowing them to prioritize maintenance concerns and streamline their teams’ workflows, all through an inexpensive, easy-to-use, hassle-free downloadable application.