Celebrating Collaboration and Creation of a Much Needed NEPA Resource

I have this odd background that lends to bridging gaps. All kinds of odd gaps. One is the gap between folks who want to improve the trails they love — or make trails happen where they currently are not — and land managers.

Natural and cultural resource protection laws and processes can feel like a chasm too difficult to bridge as partnership trail projects gain momentum.

But it doesn’t have to.

My professional career began as a naval officer in Washington, DC, at Naval Reactors (the Naval Nuclear Power Program). I was there as a reactor fluid systems engineer and learned to love the magic of source documents, well-written manuals with clear instruction, detailed record keeping, open and direct communication, collaborative problem solving and regulations.

Naval Reactors has a special sauce that stays with you.

I later became a Patent Examiner with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, another role at the nexus of source documents, detailed record keeping, open and direct communication, collaborative problem solving and regulations. Then add a big overlay of procedure and pattern finding & making.

So when I took on the role of volunteer trails manager at one of our National Parks and kept hearing (from fellow volunteers), “Good luck. The Park won’t let you do anything that moves dirt,” I went to my point of contact within the park and asked what’s behind what I’m hearing.

A few emails and calls later and I was in touch with Natural Resources. “Well, they’re probably taking about compliance. I wouldn’t say you can’t move any dirt. But for some areas in the park, there is a process. It can be kind of difficult.” I asked him to give me everything he had to help me understand the process. “It’s NEPA. It would be a lot of reading.” I said I’m good at reading and am a sucker for regulations and process.

A three ring binder, some pens & highlighters, and a cross-country flight later (excellent time to read), turns out the process was logical and systematic. It just seems no one from the partner group I volunteered with had sought to understand the process. This had been a lost opportunity for real collaboration - for years.

Fast forward to last year. I’d been helping others navigate NEPA and, through the magic of speaking up and asking questions at a national trails conference, and lots of side conversations between sessions, IMBA Education and I connected.

It came down to a few astute folks — each passionate about understanding the trail community’s needs and the magic of well-produced resources to meet them — and each valuing collaboration.

I’m proud of this resource we developed and the ease & joy of working with folks who have a clear vision of the bigger objective.

The Trail Champion’s Introduction to NEPA is what it says it is — an introduction. It fills a gap that has been unbridged for too long. It’s ideal for cooperator groups, volunteer coordinators, trailbuilders new to working with land managers with protected natural and cultural resources and Trail Champions everywhere.

The next-level Trail Champion is a NEPA Champion.