The Natick Trails and Forest Stewardship Committee is seeking a crew of volunteers to adopt and care for more than a dozen nature trails across town.
The Natick Trail Steward Program is designed to ensure that the town’s trails are well maintained so that they can be enjoyed by all year-round.
“Today, we have a few Stewards who are loosely organized and just tidy up a bit on the trails,” says Doug Drenik, chair of the committee. “My hope is by formalizing this process, it’ll alert us (or the DPW) to issues that need to be addressed quickly, as well as insure the trails aren’t full of litter/dog poop/etc. We’d like to use the amount of hours that people put in to justify future town budgets, resources, and possible grants.”
Trail stewards are being asked to check their trails at least twice per month spring through early winter, and after any big storms. Stewards should collect trash, move downed limbs that are manageable, be on the lookout for erosion and significant obstacles, and document their findings.
If stewards see situations that might require chainsaws or other such tools, they should not handle things themselves. Rather, they should get ahold of the committee to report their findings.
If interested, contact naticktrails@gmail.com.
“I’m optimistic given the current pandemic and people wanting to get out, that we’ll have a decent group raise their hands,” Drenik says.
More: Learn about Natick’s upcoming Trails Summit on April 3 from 10am-noon.
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