Great Smoky Mountains National Park Seeks Trail Work Volunteers

Great Smoky Mountains National Park is excited to announce a number of trail maintenance volunteer workdays in North Carolina and Tennessee that showcase a number of meaningful partnerships with organizations who actively support our mission. All necessary paperwork to register as a “Volunteer in Park" (VIP) can be done on site. Prior notice of attendance is necessary. Please email adam_monroe@nps.gov or call 828-497-1949 to sign up for a workday.

Opportunities include:

Saturday, September 28th – National Public Lands Day
Volunteers are invited to take part in a trail rehabilitation project on the Kanati Fork Trail from 10:00 am to 3:30 pm. The trail is located just off of Newfound Gap Road (441) in North Carolina. Volunteers will perform trail maintenance including installation of drainage features, rehabilitation of trail surfaces, and removal of brush. The workday will offer a great opportunity to learn about sustainable trail design and gain a behind the scenes look at what it takes to maintain the vast trail network of Great Smoky Mountains National park.

National Public Lands Day is the nation’s largest single-day volunteer effort to improve and enhance the public lands across America. This year’s celebration is expected to draw more than 200,000 volunteers at more than 2,600 sites. For more information about National Public Lands visit https://www.neefusa.org/public-lands-day.

Thursday, October 17 – Brushy Mountain Trail 
Join corps members from the Southeast Conservation Corps out of Chattanooga, TN and staff from REI Knoxville from 9:00 am to 3:30 pm to accomplish much needed trail maintenance along the Brushy Mountain Trail in the Greenbrier area of the park. In addition to completing self-sufficient projects in the backcountry, the corps members are encouraged to engage with the local volunteer community to extend their reach and production. Great Smoky Mountains National Park is pleased to host this hardworking crew for extended workweeks, made possible with funding from the National Park Foundation and REI.



Jeff
HikingintheSmokys.com
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TetonHikingTrails.com
Ramble On: A History of Hiking