About The Adopt A Trail Program

While Adopt A Trail (AAT) programs exist across the country and throughout the U.S. Forest Service, until now there’s never been a huge push to promote an AAT program here in the Los Padres.  The idea of a revitalized Los Padres AAT program was formulated by the Los Padres Forest Association with the hope that volunteers could make a greater impact on the trail system if they were empowered with the ability to pick their favorite trail and work specifically to help that trail.  We’ve seen volunteers from across the forest unofficially adopt their favorite trail with great results.  Not only are the trails greatly improved with a designated caretaker or two, but the volunteers love coming back to their trail and dealing with the inevitable changes that each trail goes through year after year after year.

With the backing of REI and the support of the Los Padres National Forest, trail organizations across the forest are teaming up to promote AAT and provide volunteers with the opportunity to make a difference on their favorite trails.

LETS GET IT STARTED

In order to get started all you need is a favorite trail and a desire to adopt that trail.  There are various levels of participation that have been designed so that anyone and everyone can help the trail they love most.  You can read more about the levels here.  In addition to the levels of trail adoption there is also a great variety of needs depending on the trail you might choose.  Some trails desperately need trail work while others are more in need of cleaning trash or minimizing human impacts. You not only decide the trail you want to adopt but also get to determine what sort of work you’d like to do along the trail.  As long as the work benefits the trail, it’s all good!

Check out the following FAQ’s for more specifics and if you are interested in signing up or hearing more, email us and we’ll get back to you as quick as we can.