Mike Francis (MF): The Charles River Valley trail volunteers are an amazing group that started just over five years ago. The membership is between 15 to 20 but fluctuates a little bit. And I work primarily with a couple of the lead trail volunteers and the trail specialists here in the region to coordinate the trail priorities and the projects that they work on.

This volunteer’s group mission may be twofold, really one, the technical piece, to maintain the trails and the trail infrastructure. But two, to be ambassadors for The Trustees. This trail team has done quite a bit between clearing trails of fallen trees after storms and also building check steps, cleaning out water bars, building bog bridges, installing way finding signage to help our visitors find their way through the woods, and overall, really just improve the visitor experience while maintaining the natural features of the property.

Hank Rausch (HR): My name is Hank Rausch.

Dan Ott (DO): My name is Dan Ott.

Dave Herrera (DH): My name is Dave Herrera.

DO: I am involved with the Trustees Trail Maintenance Team as a volunteer leader.

DH: I’m a founding member of the Trustees Charles River Trails Group.

HR: I’m one of three coordinators along with Dan Ott and Dave Herrera. We get together on a weekly basis on Wednesday mornings to do projects at the Trustees properties here in the Charles River Valley.

MF: Yeah. And through the leadership of Hank, Dave, and Dan, they’ve been able to take this trail volunteer team to the next level. We’re able to multiply ourselves through their efforts and really achieve something much greater that we wouldn’t be able to do without their efforts. And even beyond that, they’ve just grown to be this large trail team that can really accomplish so much.

DH: I think the Trustees are a great organization. They really respect the land. And ever since I’ve been part of the team, I’ve gotten a lot of friendships developed through our works, and I really look forward to meeting with the guys on our weekly projects.

HR: We have a lot of fun. So, we talk about what’s going on in the world. We talk about our families. It’s been a great community that we’ve built together around this shared experience of volunteering with the Trustees.

DO: More often than not, what I see in people that come and join us is that they come for the work and to do something good. They experience an accepting atmosphere, a welcoming crowd. We try to bring folks in and make them feel comfortable as soon as we can. And there’s a certain kind of camaraderie and community that has developed over time where we feel a kinship around this work.