The winter months and frozen ground give trails a rest. The colder temperatures also give trail stewards a chance to reflect on our local opportunities and challenges. In recent years, we have noticed that something is definitely shifting.

Over the Trail Corps’ first decade, most of our projects were either new trail construction or predictable maintenance, including clearing brush, rerouting paths and opening up view points.

Troublingly, we are now more frequently responding to erosion and water damage caused by climate change.

The 2026 trail project requests are piling up and the Upper Valley Trails Alliance staff is now actively developing our summer plan for the High School Trail Corps. As we do so, UVTA and virtually all trail professionals are facing this new reality: Weather extremes are fundamentally changing how we build and maintain trails.

Many of our 2025 projects exemplified this transition. The High School Trail Corps was hired to complete as much maintenance work as possible on a section of the Cross Rivendell Trail in Orford over four days. But erosion has caused significant damage to this historic trail to the peak of Mt. Cube. We did our best to prioritize the most important — and sustainable — repairs and improvements.

Last year’s weather swung from May’s relentless rain and July’s flash flooding to severe late-summer drought. Older trails can be particularly vulnerable to these massive fluctuations because they were not always built with these challenges in mind.

When the first recreational trails were established in New Hampshire and Vermont in the 1800s, they were often constructed to access peaks and viewpoints as quickly as possible. As a result, many older trails had overly steep grades as they ran straight up and down a mountain along the “fall line.” Unfortunately, this means that the trail becomes a drain for water that can wash it away. Many iconic hiking trails in Vermont and New Hampshire were built this way.

Thankfully, trail building has improved dramatically along. Our collective awareness about the vital role that trails play as pathways for community health, transportation and recreation has also grown. Modern trail building best practices prioritize water management and sustainability. Professional trail builders use climbing turns or switchbacks to snake up a steep slope. These techniques easier grades for users and reduce erosion by preventing water from running down the trail. Trails built this way mostly cross the contour and are constructed with a slight downhill angle or on the surface of the trail. This “outslope” sheds water by preventing water from channeling downward along the trail. Builders also use other types of water management, including surface drains like water bars, grade dips and swales, and subsurface culverts or French drains.

At UVTA, we’re always asking how we can most effectively respond to help keep trails both accessible and sustainable. A good example of this type of work was with the West Windsor Conservation Commission and other partners to reroute the top half of the historic Bicentennial Trail on Mt. Ascutney. Over several years, we studied the terrain and worked with hundreds of volunteers to create a new route with numerous turns and trail structures to reduce erosion and improve the trail experience for hikers. Projects like this are crucial for the future of our trail systems, especially as most climate scientists predict more high volume rain events that will only increase the vulnerability of poorly designed trails.

In order to pass on critical knowledge and skills to the next generation, we are now currently recruiting for our 2026 Trail Corps crews and are selecting a range of trail construction projects with a focus on sustainability.

While it might be tempting to leave this work solely to trail professionals, we cannot do it alone. Trail users and volunteers play an important role in the effort to prevent water damage and increase the sustainability of our trails.

When you are out on the trail, look for the early signs of erosion. These include exposed roots, fallen leaves washed off the trail, and puddles/mud forming in lower lying areas.

Even small actions can help. Spend five minutes unclogging a drain with a stick. Remove the berm on the downhill edge of the trail to let a puddle drain. Report problems to the local trail organization. Volunteer for your local trail committee or for a trail organization like UVTA. None of these require special skills — just some time and attention.

While weather may be beyond our control, we can respond by investing in our trails and communities. Awareness and teamwork will help create climate resilient trail systems for generations to come.

Ethan Ross lives in Norwich and is the field program manager at the Upper Valley Trails Alliance. He can be reached at ethan.ross@uvtrails.org. Visit www.uvtrails.org to learn more about the nonprofit organization’s work.