Trail Building Project Manager

Status: Part-time (10 hrs / week)

Type: Contract

Pay rate: $20 / hr

Start date: Mid-February, 2025

Trails Utah is a 501(c)(3) non-profit dedicated to trails advocacy, planning, and new trail construction around the state. Maintenance of existing trails, trail reroutes to improve alignments and achieve sustainable grades and proper drainage, are also a regular part of our project list. Working with our land manager partners we also conduct volunteer events to work on trails, control invasive weeds, conduct reseeding efforts, and other tasks as are needed to maintain the health of the landscape.

Our organization works year-round to develop solid stakeholder relationships to plan for and support our projects. We work closely with land managers at the municipal, county, and federal level, along with neighborhoods and community councils, trail user groups, other nonprofits to make trails happen. Because trails thread across landscapes, we often must coordinate with multiple land managers at the same time to ensure all necessary permitting, environmental study, and zoning ordinance requirements are met on a schedule that allows trail projects to go forward in a timely manner. Project Manager (PM) will make sure that all required studies and permits are in place before a project begins and help establish a schedule for all work that is to be accomplished.

This position requires solid working knowledge and oversight of both pre-construction requirements for trail building as well as on-the-ground expertise in trail design, trail layout, construction methods, and best practices. PM must be able to identify specific needs and challenges for trail maintenance, reroutes, and new build projects, communicate those needs and challenges to TU staff and partners during project development. PM will also provide a professional level of oversight and management of the trail project, and work with the contracted professional trail builder to make sure all work carried out to the highest possible standards.

While this position is currently offered at 10 hrs. per week, during the busy parts of the building season hours will likely need to increase. During winter months work requirement will be low.

• Thorough study of project area, conditions, challenges, & opportunities.
• Interface with project partners/land managers to identify project needs & concerns.
• Identify & help secure all required studies and permits
• Help develop timelines, permitting plans, and scope of work to be performed for each project
• Coordinate on-site meetings with TU staff, partners, and trail builders at regular intervals for project check-ins.
• Identify and track projected and actual project costs and expenditures including equipment rentals, labor, & materials
• Generate regular progress reports to TU staff and partners
• Help coordinate volunteers on trail maintenance projects
• Provide project review and report upon completion

• 5 yrs trail building experience/trail crew experience
• Experience using both machine and hand tools for trail construction & maintenance
• Thorough understanding of trail building methods and types of features
• Good working knowledge of kinds of materials needed to build, fix, retain, trails & features
• Ability to communicate and coordinate with TU staff, partners, builders, community leaders, etc

• January – March – planning
• April – November – construction
• November - December – project wrap up & reporting

Please submit the following to sarah@trailsutah.org

• Cover letter
• Resume
• 2 letters of reference

Deadline for applications: Friday, January 31st at 5:00pm.