For Elke Reimer, the trails in Auburn, California, are an extension of her home. Every day, the avid runner and backpacker takes off from her front door and makes her way to the nearby Manzanita trailhead, an entrance to the breathtaking trail network in the Sierra Nevada foothills.

When she’s not running or hiking, Elke tends to the paths, especially after big storms. Wearing a hard hat and gloves while carrying a shovel, she sets off to clear the area. With assistance from a fellow trail steward, Elke moves trees that have fallen down and repairs water damage that occurs after heavy rainfall.

The effort is strenuous and time consuming, but Elke is relentless when it comes to nurturing the trails that bring so much joy to her community.

“I use these trails all the time and it’s like your babies, right?” Elke says. “You don’t like to see your babies not being taken care of or trashed.”

Safe passage on trails is made possible through the work of local trail stewardship programs and volunteers like Elke. In response to forest fires, storms, and harsh winter elements, trail stewards work tirelessly to restore the paths for generations of outdoor enthusiasts.

In a conversation on the trails with HOKA, Elke shared how she got her start in trail restoration, the importance of preserving the areas, and ways everyone can do their part as a trail steward.

HONING THE SKILLS OF STEWARDSHIP

In 2005, Elke was introduced to trail stewardship through a friend who was involved in the Western States Endurance Run Foundation, an organization dedicated to preserving the trail system used for the Western States Endurance Run in partnership with local agencies, including the U.S. Forest Service and California State Parks. From her first day working as a volunteer, Elke immediately felt a strengthened connection to the trails she runs.

“I was hooked,” she says. “As someone who loves to be outdoors and garden and that type of thing, [trail stewardship] is really just large-scale hardscape.”

Early on, the foundation was still relatively new with smaller groups of eight or nine people doing tread work and removing logs on the trails. Over time, the groups increased to 40 people working for six to eight hours each day. Elke served as a mainstay among the volunteers and eventually managed the trail maintenance program.

Over the years, she deepened her expertise in trail stewardship, earning her Sawyer certification (a skill level that involves the use of a chainsaw to clear out fallen trees on the trails), taking trail skills courses through the Pacific Crest Trail Association, and receiving mentorship from those in the U.S. Forest Service.

In 2022, Elke started leading the trail stewardship program of the Canyons Endurance Runs, which hosts three weekends of volunteer work to help prepare trails for the ultra running competition in Auburn every year. Many of those volunteers are competitors who race on the trails they help restore.

“I feel it’s really important to become more intimate with the trails so that you appreciate more of the areas you’re going through,” Elke says.

CREATING MORE SUSTAINABLE TRAILS

In the 20 years Elke has been working as a trail steward, she and the team of volunteers and partner organizations have created safe passages amid varying weather conditions and natural disasters.

For example, after the 2022 Mosquito fire–a blaze that torched more than 63,000 acres northeast of Sacramento–and subsequent storms, Elke’s team, the U.S. Forest Service, and the Western States Trail Foundation collaborated to repair extensive damage. Together, they removed dead trees, repaired damaged retaining walls, and installed new water bars (sections designed to get water off the trail as quickly as possible and prevent erosion). Thanks to their efforts, the Western States Trail was made safe for the 2023 Western States Endurance Run in just eight months.

Thinking about her ongoing work as a trail steward, Elke wants to create more sustainable trails by improving historical paths. Depending on the weather conditions, Elke leads volunteer groups on trail stewardship projects throughout the year. Her hope is that more outdoor enthusiasts appreciate the dedication of volunteers and partner organizations and recognize the importance of giving back to the trails they love, wherever they live.

“Trail work is probably the most rewarding volunteering you’ll do in the trail running community,” she says, while explaining that stewardship program leaders train and supervise volunteers while on the job, so no prior education is required to give back.

“The stewardship of trails is vital to the health of trails. These agencies do not have the resources to meet the demands of the expansive network of trails in the system, and therefore volunteers have the opportunity to pitch in,” Elke says.

“The more people understand that and realize the joy of doing trail stewardship, it never ends. It’s a nice way to be intimate with a trail in a way that you never would if you were running.”

For those interested in volunteering as a trail steward, Elke recommends contacting trail running race directors and environmental agencies to learn more about the local programs in your area. If you live near the Western States Trail or Canyons Endurance Runs course, consider signing up for trail work opportunities through the Western States Endurance Run Foundation and the Canyons Endurance Run trail stewardship program.