Volunteer Trail Leaders

The Mountains-to-Sea Trail is built and maintained by volunteers organized into task forces that are each responsible for a particular section of trail.

Sixteen task forces are now maintaining the 500 miles of foot trail. Nine of these task forces are also building new trail in the Mountains and Piedmont. Others are maintaining existing trail. New volunteers are always welcome at any of our trail workdays across North Carolina.

Each task force is led by a volunteer Task Force Leader who is experienced in trail construction and maintenance techniques. Task Force Leaders with responsibility for long and difficult sections or ones that are under construction often assign volunteers to be responsible for subsections and coordinate crews of volunteers for bigger trail construction projects.

FMST provides support to the Task Forces and its volunteers in a number of ways:

• Many of our volunteers are highly experienced in trail construction techniques and are happy to share that expertise with others as they build and maintain the trail.
• We organize regular trail building workshops and chainsaw certification classes across North Carolina to help our volunteers build sustainable trail safely.
• On the first Saturday in February each year, we organize our annual conference of task force leaders so that volunteers can raise questions and concerns and we can share information about statewide issues.
• We apply for grants for tools, supplies, and materials and provide needed funds to task forces.

Volunteers have a direct link to the Board of Directors through the volunteer Trail Specialist who represents their region. We've divided the state into six regions and appointed a board member or ex officio board member in each to help Task Force Leaders be effective, reach out to local governments and other partners and promoting FMST in their region.

Volunteer Work Sheet