By Jeff Buxbaum
All Trails Will be Adopted in 2017
We currently have 36 trail adopters, some of whom represent groups (e.g., Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, churches), and virtually all of the trails in the Fells are now adopted. The remaining trails are short, and scattered here and there throughout the Fells.
A few of the more recent adopters have been agreeable (rather, excited!) to adopt a small area of the Fells, rather than a single trail. And in informal conversations with some adopters, I find that many of us feel we have a strong connection with ALL the trails, and pick up trash and clear branches even when not on our own adopted trail. This inspired an idea to migrate the Trail Adopter program to one where:
- We divide the Fells into subregions.
- Each subregion would have several adopters. The adopters could choose to work on their own, or, if there was interest, to collaborate as a team. The team would make sure all the trails were being covered.
- People or groups that currently have individual trails and want to keep that focus, can do so.
The benefit of this approach is that we will instantly have one hundred percent of the trails in the Fells adopted, with no gaps at all.
I’ll be developing the new system in the coming weeks, including reassigning existing adopters to regions. In the meantime, if you’d like to volunteer to join one of the adoption teams, go to Trail Adopter page, and fill out the application.
Many thanks to the current adopter team, and I look forward to more of you joining us!
Jeff Buxbaum
FoF Trail Adopter Coordinator