Education & the Trails 

Hands-on Trail Building & Sustainability Lesson for Students 

This past week Truckee Trails partnered with Donner Trail Elementary School for a hands-on trail-building and education experience. Over 60 children heard from Truckee Trails about designing and constructing sustainable trails that reduce erosion and resist the impacts of trail use and seasonal snow and water damage.

Truckee Trails’ Larry Lehman exhibits a construction tool while talking about trail-building with students ranging from kindergarten to fifth grade.

There was plenty of time for students to pitch in with the construction of their own functional trail connecting the elementary school to a nearby river. Students also learned about trail-building tools and techniques and they will team up to maintain the trail. They are tasked with monitoring trail conditions over time, checking for trail structural and surface quality issues, identifying problems, and collectively deciding on corrective action. Reflecting real-world trail-building constraints, the students learn the importance of savvy trail design, and the need for on-going resources to ensure the trail usability and quality over time.

Students learned first-hand about sustainable construction by building a ~350 foot trail near the school.

Getting the community engaged in our work at Truckee Trails is integral to our mission, and we work hard to ensure that the region’s trails are accessible to a wide range of trail user types and abilities. We’re thrilled to help educate and engage yet another generation of trail users who will enjoy and support an environmentally sustainable world-class network of trails in and around Truckee.

You can read more about the student field day in this week’s Sierra Sun article where Truckee Trails was featured.