FAYETTEVILLE, W.Va. — The National Park Service is trying to recruit more volunteers to help monitor the trails within the New River Gorge National Park and Preserve as visitation numbers continue to grow.
The NRG National Park Service held a recruitment event alongside those with Friends of New River Gorge National Park Wednesday in Fayette County to try and kick-start its Adopt-A-Trail program as well as to get the word out about their regularly held trail volunteer events.
NPS Roads and Trails Supervisor Morgan Hartsock said they had an Adopt-A-Trail program in the past, but it went dormant when the onset of Covid struck.
He said in order to revive the program, they essentially need volunteers to get back out on the trails.
“So, we’re just really trying to get some momentum back in that program, get the word out to people in the surrounding community, you know, whether that’s people out doing monitoring of those trails or helping with the physical maintenance of the trails,” Hartsock said.
Hartsock said visitation has gone up year by year in the New River Gorge ever since it was re-designated as a national park and preserve in 2020. However, he said the park’s budget has not seen an increase, which is why more volunteer help out on the trails is needed.
“We don’t have anymore paid personnel to help maintain our trails, so getting added assistance from volunteers is more important now than ever,” he said.
There’s a little over 100 miles of trails within the New River Gorge National Park and the Bluestone National Scenic River area combined.
NPS Trails Volunteer Coordinator Jeremy Browning said they are trying to generate two distinct groups of volunteers as part of the initiative.
He said the first group will help them direct their forces responding to issues along the trails, whether it be downed trees or landslides. Browning said the second group will be the people who can help maintain the trails, from brushing, tread work to tree removal assistance.
In addition, Browning said they are also reaching out to larger groups who might be interested in holding a set work day with the park service where they would conduct a trail project fixing one section of a trail that may need more maintenance and attention.
Hartsock said while the growth of more people coming into the park is exciting, they are also feeling the pains of not having enough help in handling the visitor influx along the trails.
He said they are hoping that through this effort they are able to garner more interest from folks wanting to help out as they know many of them are out using the trails for recreational purposes already.
“You know, they’re already out there hiking, if they’re just able to look, you know, build a trail eye so they can give us more detailed reports so that we can better prioritize how we’re conducting our maintenance, that’s going to be a really big help,” said Hartsock.
The park service plans to hold a few more public events highlighting the need for more volunteers as well as encourage people to adopt a trail throughout the remainder of the year.
Hartsock said while the most recent event was held at the northern end of the park, they are also considering holding one on the park’s southern end as well, such as in the Beckley area.
He said with a little more encouragement, they know they can find some devoted explorers of the national park ready and willing to help out.
“I think that people do want to help, I think that we just need to get our faces back out there and show them just how they can do it,” said Hartsock.
For more information regarding the volunteer opportunities through the national park, you can contact Volunteer Coordinator Adrienne Jenkins at (304) 465-2634 or email [email protected], or Community Volunteer Ambassador Emma Hicks at (304) 465-6538, or email [email protected].
Volunteer information can be found on the park’s website. The New River Gorge National Park also posts volunteer information regularly to its social media platforms.