NATIONAL TRAILS
TRAINING PARTNERSHIP
Your resource for trails training
What is NTTP?
The NATIONAL TRAILS TRAINING
PARTNERSHIP is a forum of diverse trail
organizations and agencies whose mission is to
improve opportunities for training for the
nationwide trails community.
The need for
trail education
• Increasing park and trails visitation
• Emphasis on trails for health and fitness
• Skills lost as experienced staff retire
• Increasing reliance on volunteers
• Cost and difficulty of travel for training
• Reliance on the internet for information
Goals of NTTP
• Encourage cooperation on training efforts
• Develop a clearinghouse of training and
resources at www.NTTP.net
• Identify needs and gaps in existing training
• Promote research to improve trails education
• Facilitate training needed
• Promote models for statewide training
• Help States bring training to local project
sponsors
Partnership
NTTP is a partnership of every Federal land
management agency and national trails and
outdoor recreation organizations.
Funding from:
• Federal Highway Admin.
• USDA Forest Service
• Bureau of Land Management
• National Park Service
• US Fish and Wildlife Service
Coordination and website
development by:
• American Trails
Partnership
Training providers who are NTTP partners:
• American Hiking Society
• Back Country Horsemen’s Association
• Beneficial Designs, Inc.
• International Mountain Bicycling Association
• National Off-Highway Vehicle Conservation Council
• National Recreation and Park Association
• Partnership for the National Trails System
• Rails-to-Trails Conservancy
• Student Conservation Association
• Tread Lightly! and Leave No Trace
…and many other partner organizations
Cooperation
on Trails
Training
• Publicize your training opportunities
• Invite other agencies
• Encourage all trails interests to participate
• Share studies, plans, articles
• Promote training at state trails conferences
• Document creative projects
Online
clearinghouse
Identifying and promoting trail-related
training nationwide
• Calendar of training opportunities
• Database of training providers and experts
• Redesigned website and improved navigation
• Page for training resources for each State
• Trail skills matched with training available
Calendar at www.NTTP.net
Searchable online database
Website update
Website visits and links
Website traffic continues to grow:
• 162,265 visits in June, 2007 was another
record high (up from 130,084 in May)
• 55% of visits are to NTTP-branded pages
• Yahoo lists 11,961 links to pages on the site
• Over 180 pages in NTTP resources are
visited at least 100 times per month
• NTTP Calendar is most-viewed single page
Online resources
at www.NTTP.net
• Over 1,500 studies, articles, and document
• Thousands of links to agency and organization
projects and resources
• Surveys and research results
• Searchable bibliography
• Tools, quotations, acronyms
• Topics on planning, building, and managing
trails, greenways, ourdoor recreation facilities
• Hosted by www.AmericanTrails.org
“Cool Trail Solutions”
• Creative ideas and solutions in visual form
• Galleries of examples arranged by topic
• Encouraging sharing of project information
American
Trails Forum
• Online discussion group
• For trailbuilders, managers, and users
• Post your questions
• Share your experience and ideas
• Sponsored by American Trails
Safe Trails
Forum
• Promoting safety for users
• Improving user experience
• Understanding legal concerns
• Reducing liability for trail managers
• Sharing experiences and best practices
• Encouraging research and documentation
Accessible
Trails
Resources
Website supports NTTP efforts:
• Raising awareness of accessibility issues
• Promoting more training available to States
• Recognizing creative efforts for accessibility
• Interpreting requirements of ADA and agencies
• Researching surfacing and design techniques
• Encouraging information sharing
Trail Tools
by Jim Schmid
Publicizing agency
trails training
Working with Federal agencies:
• BLM interagency course: Trails 101
• Carhart Wilderness Training Center
• USFS research center publications
• Wildlife Refuges working on trails
Samples of State success stories
• Pennsylvania Recreation and Park Society
• Georgia DNR and Gainesville State College
• Florida OGT accessibility training
• California’s Mott Training Center
• Alaska Trails, Inc.
Developing
new training
NTTP agency partners are working to:
• Identify all trails training providers nationwide
• Compile trail skills and competencies in specific
skills categories
• List specific training to address all needs
• Identify areas missing in current opportunities
• Develop specific proposals for training needed
• Identify potential funding for new curricula
Training from
American
Trails
Available for States to host as part of a conference
or as individual training:
• Understanding Accessibility and Building
Better Trails
• Universal Trail Accessibility Process training
• Developers Forum workshop
• TrailWare workshop
Colorado Outdoor
Training
Initiative
Trail Crew Leadership Training
• Two-day workshop on leadership, tool and crew
safety, and technical trail skills
Creating a State Trails Training Program
• Based on the COTI model
• Improving statewide training and resources
• Partnership with NTTP and American Trails
Accessible
Trails
Workshop
and UTAP
One-day workshop to teach:
• ADA and USFS guidelines and legal issues
• Benefits of sustainable trail design
• Problem solving for accessibility
• Creative, cost-effective access improvements
Universal Trail Assessment Process (UTAP)
• Objective information for users and managers
Curriculum
for Colleges
• Model: Marshall University OHV courses
• Develop a college-level curriculum
• Trails, greenways, and related facilities
• Planning, design, and management
• Online or classroom use
• For programs in Recreation, Public Land
Management, Landscape Architecture
• Share with colleges, universities, and agencies
Promoting
research
• Identifying areas where research is needed
• Encouraging new curriculum development
• Making studies available on the website
• Making student research and theses available
• Sharing knowledge from trails experts
• Promoting books and training manuals
• Highlighting new ideas at conferences and in
publications
Marketing NTTP
and training
• Developed a marketing plan with partners
• Brochure for NTTP to encourage participation
• Reaching out to local, State, and regional
organizations
• Distributing articles and fact sheets on training
• Publicizing online resources and NTTP calendar
• Website promotes wealth of material and links
to training nationwide
Publications
• Distributing articles and fact sheets on
training opportunities and NTTP
• American Trails Magazine promotes
training in every issue
We need
your help!
• Link to NTTP, online calendar, and resources
• Encourage people to use the NTTP calendar
• Publish news releases on trails training
• Tell us about new training and publications
• Document trail ideas to share with others
• Identify areas where training is needed
• Help find existing courses or contacts with
trails education in schools or colleges
National Trails Training Partnership
www.NTTP.net
For the future of trails training...
Skills for the trails of tomorrow!