There’s a difference between knowing a tree is down on a trail and knowing what to do about it.
Last year, Logan Chapman from the WVU Brad and Alys Smith Outdoor Economic Development Collaborative reached out to us about a training opportunity through the U.S. Forest Service — the National Crosscut and Chainsaw Program. Two board members from GVORBA and two board members from the Greenbrier Valley Hellbenders Youth Mountain Bike Team headed to White Sulphur Springs for a two-day session with the USFS crew from Region 3.
Day one was classroom work — saw policy, risk management, human factors, the thinking behind how you approach a downed tree before you ever touch it. Day two was in the woods, putting it into practice. By the end of it, our team came away certified to operate saws on National Forest System lands, which opens up a real door for volunteer trail work in the Monongahela.
The week after training, a couple of board members were out on the Tuesday night ride at Greenbrier State Forest and found downed trees on Old Roads and Holler. Good timing. They came back the next day and cleared them.
That’s kind of the whole point. The trails we ride don’t maintain themselves, and the partnerships that make it possible to do that work the right way take time to build. This training is one more piece of that.
Big thanks to the Forest Service team in Region 3 for hosting us. And to Logan Chapman at the WVU OEDC for making the connection in the first place.
If you’re interested in future volunteer trail days, keep an eye here or follow along on socials. We’ll post details when they’re set.