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By admin, February 23, 2010 1:41 pm

The Trail Council’s sister organization, the Trail Center (located in Palo Alto), developed the training model and materials used in the Council’s own trainings held in 2008 and 2009. We updated the training materials and shared them back with the Trail Center, which has just completed a training session with San Mateo County Parks at Huddart County Park in Woodside. We received this report sent by Justin Knowles, training organizer and member of the TC Board of Directors:

Trail Center crew leader training, Feb. 20, 2010

This past week’s volunteer crew leader training was a series of firsts. The training was San Mateo County Parks first crew leader training and was the Trail Center’s first sponsored training since 2004. By all accounts the training was a success.

On the night of Thursday, Feb 18, we had about 10 crew leader trainees, and on Saturday, Feb 20, we had 8 trainees. Thursday’s session included overviews, trail standards, a day in the life of a
crew leader, and safety. My Thursday highlight was Scott’s Joe Crew Leader session where he channeled Geoffrey Skinner and described a fictional trail day where “Joe Crew Leader” was strong in enthusiasm but weak in self awareness and people skills.

On Saturday, we focused on putting our learning to the test. We started the day with the rituals of the trail day and then broke into three, rotating groups that focused on drainage, tread, and
brushing/trail maintenance. The weather cooperated since it did not rain until later on Saturday afternoon.

Through both the classroom and field sessions, the instruction concentrated on the three objectives of a trail day: 1) safety, 2) having fun, and 3) building quality trails.

Next Saturday, Feb 27 from 9:00 am to noon will be an optional crew leader training session. We need to finalize the agenda, but we will probably focus on building drainage structures.

The training came together through the efforts of many. I’d like to thank the following:

• Coastal Conservancy for their grant that helped make the training possible (and the quality sandwiches and shirts).
• Geoffrey Skinner, former Trail Center president, and the Sonoma County Trails Council for allowing us to leverage SCTC training materials.
• Carla Schoof, the SMCP volunteer coordinator, for organizing the effort for the SMCP.
• San Mateo Park rangers who participated in the Thursday and
• Saturday sessions, especially David Vasquez who participated in both sessions.
• Trail Center projects team including Scott Heeschen, Dave Croker, Dave Taylor, and Hank Magnuski for their work in preparation and instruction.

I learned a lot from the sessions including how to make the next one even better.

Here’s the link for pictures from the Saturday practical session.

Tool demonstrations