FMST's Accomplishments

Highlights in 2008 include:

More volunters helped build and maintain the trail than ever before. As a result, more than 15 new miles of trail were built and hundreds of miles were maintained.

Volunteers stepped up to help in other ways: by recruiting the new members, staffing festivals booths, producing an e-newsletter, helping in the office and assisting with many other tasks.

More than 1,000 people participated in our first annual Mountains-to-Sea Trail Month by hiking, backpacking, paddling, biking, and learning about the trail at slideshows and nature programs.

The NC Division of Parks and Recreation made grants totaling $8.5 million to acquire land for the trail in Guilford, Alamance, Orange, and Johnston counties. The land already purchased or under contract will provide approximately eight miles of new trail and camping.

An archeologist approved the route fro the final stretch of trail between Blowing Rock and NC-16, clearing the way for the South Ashe and Watauga vollunteer task forecs to close that trail gap on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Newspaper, magazines and blogs gave the MST extraordinary press coverage. A highlight was the Raleigh News and Observer's series that ran once-a-month on Sunday's front-page from June to September.

For more information about FMST's accomplishments over the years, please read our annual reports:

2008 - PDF file (2.3MB file)