MTC Trail Work Day - Sunday June 8th 2014

The site of Sunday's trail work day. Not a bad place to volunteer!

This Sunday, June 8th, Montana Trail Crew is hosting its very first trail work day. As those of you who joined us for the Runners Edge Trail Night a few weeks back learned, we're committed to providing the Montana trail running community with volunteer trail work opportunities. 

MTC's Seth Swanson and Missoula Conservation Lands Manager Morgan Valliant devising a plan.

Montana Trail Crew came about the same way most good ideas come about, on a run. Actually, quite a few really long runs. To most runners, it's a familiar experience. On a beautiful morning outing on your favorite trail, the meadowlark are singing and wildflowers are everywhere. It’s just you and the trail. As you float effortlessly over rocks and around curves, you feel as though you’re a part of the landscape. It's a feeling of bliss and you're reminded of just how good we have it here in Montana. We have a great quality of life and it has a lot to do with trails, open space, and public lands. Montana is inspiring and you're inspired.

On another run you’re chatting with some friends. The miles fly by and ideas are shared: a Montana Trail Running website meant to celebrate this amazing home of ours, a film festival to bring the community together, trail work projects, and more.

Montana Trail Crew is a product of ideas; a non-profit organization dedicated to celebrating trail running here in Montana. But we’re also a conservation organization whose mission is to advocate for trails and public lands. The connection is fundamental, trail running and trails go hand in hand.

Trail running is a place-based experience and as a community we hope to to be effective stewards of our trails and do our part to maintain them through trail work projects. There are a number of reason why:

• We feel it is important to leave the trails in better shape than we found them.
• Montana has a lot of trails and not a lot of people to take care of them.
• Trail work builds community. 
• Land managers--University, City, and National Forest--will recognize the work we do and hopefully take that into account the next time local groups ask to hold trail races on public lands
• The trails can be made a whole lot better.

Eroded trail attacked by leafy spurge

A high traffic walked-in trail that was never actually built

North Hills triple-track.

We want MTC to literally become a trail crew. Just as trails are a part of trail running, trail work should be a part of being a trail runner. Thanks to the generosity of Runners Edge who contributed the proceeds from Trail Night to MTC trail work projects, we’ll be able to make significant strides in that direction. 

So this spring we began to formulate a plan. MTC is working with the City of Missoula to draft the paperwork required to adopt a section of trail in Missoula's North Hills. With this arrangement, MTC will take some ownership in the maintenance and care of a trail that sees heavy foot traffic year round. This is a great opportunity for us, as trail runners, to give back to the trails we love and utilize. While the logistics of the adoption are being ironed out, we will begin this partnership with the City of Missoula Parks Department with a trail work party on June 8th. This initial work day will be a small one as we build on our experience in trail work. We're looking for a dozen or so volunteers to spend four hours with us this Sunday. If you're interested send us an email at admin@montanatrailcrew.com and if space allows we'll get you signed up and give you some more information on how you can help. 

The Basics:
Date: Sunday June 8th 2014
Time: 10-2
Location: Missoula's North Hills (followed by a post-work pizza feed at the Kettlehouse)
Sign up: admin@montanatrailcrew.com

We invite you to join us in becoming trail stewards by taking part in this, or other, MTC trail work days. We'd love for you to become part of Montana Trail Crew and help us make our amazing Montana trails even better.