Photo: Town 4 Trail Services and Tahawus Trails
The Trail Skills Project serves as the workforce hub for the trails community providing connections to trails education, trail expertise, professional development, and job opportunities. PTBA has been a leading partner in the Trail Skills Project since its inception in 2021.
We are excited to announce the release an updated Trail Competency Framework with new competencies and defined skills (entry, full, expert) associated with each competency. You can view the details online or download the pdf below.
2024 Update to the Trail Competencies
Trail Skills Project Webinars
PTBA, American Trails and Northwest Arkansas Community College presented a webinar on 10/17 to discuss the updated Trail Competencies and how they are being used for program and curriculum development, workforce development efforts, bolstering trail stewardship capacity, and professionalization of the trail industry.
Join this webinar as a panel of speakers discuss the many ways that the Competency Framework has been used, or could be used, to create innovative higher education programs that build the next generation of trail professionals. Speakers will share strategies, successes and challenges that they faced in creating trail programs at their institutions and how they see the future of trail training programs playing out in the years to come.
Trail Competencies
Competencies are a key strategy as PTBA works to professionalize our industry, define career pathways, inform and align trail education programs, and ultimately build our workforce.
The competencies are the foundation of the Trail Skills Project (profiles, job descriptions, training alignment) and can also be used for program and curriculum development (universities, community colleges, non formal education), workforce development efforts (apprenticeships, training, recruitment), and bolstering trail stewardship capacity (training and trail project identification).
The updated competency framework builds on the 2021 version which was the result of a survey research project that defined the competencies. More than 200 trail experts nationwide representing 44 states and, on average, 19 years of trail work experience, participated in the 2021 Trail Competency Framework survey.
Sample page from the Construction Competencies
Trail Skills Project Goals
Promote workforce development of current and future trail professionals
Advance trails training opportunities and development
Provide increased opportunities to connect trail volunteers, stewards, agency staff, and professionals
Define a pathway to a career in trails and inspire the next generation of trail professionals
Bolster the capacity of volunteers to meet stewardship needs
Photo: Progressive Trail Design
