Our indefatigable Advocacy Director Scott Bartlebaugh received a Trail Champion Award at the 2024 California Trails and Greenways Conference recently. The award is “Presented to an individual who has made significant contributions in support of trails or greenways in California.”
It’s particularly exciting that the nomination came from our friends at the East Bay Regional Park District and recognizes the positive impact that cyclists — mountain, gravel, and beyond — have on our open spaces and trails.
The award program notes that:
“Scott started volunteering at trail maintenance events with the Bicycle Trails Council of the East Bay (BTCEB) in 2015. Since then, his role has expanded from trail volunteer to leader to board member, and most recently as the organization’s Advocacy Director where he works tirelessly to protect natural resources while providing additional bike access to natural surface trails. Scott holds the individual volunteer record at over 2,000 hours (!) maintaining trails at Crockett Hills Regional Park since 2018.”
You’d think that was enough, but there’s more. Much more. On top of his endless (and expert) trail maintenance efforts, Scott has attended countless board meetings, planning town halls, and workshops to make sure public lands are accessible to us. His input was valuable in recently adopted land use plans, such as Roddy Ranch, Las Trampas, and Sibley/McClosker Regional Parks. Scott has served as a liaison between the East Bay Regional Park District and the National Interscholastic Cycling Association, and has a history of working with land managers, the trail community, and conservation stakeholders to foster constructive relationships. That’s much easier to write than do: it takes patience, persistence and considerable emotional intelligence.
In addition to advocacy and trail stewardship with EBRPD Scott is also an active member of the John Muir Land Trust Stewardship Committee and with the Wente Scout Reservation trail efforts. Somehow he also finds time to seek out other trail stewardship opportunities at places like Walnut Creek Open Space, Mt. Diablo via the Mount Diablo Trail Alliance, Boggs State Demonstration Forest through Redwood Trails Alliance, Soquel Demonstration Forest through Santa Cruz Mountain Trail Stewardship, Pinecrest, and even the East Rim Trail system in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park while visiting family in Ohio. Scott’s personal calendar clearly has more than the 365 days in it the rest of us are stuck with!
Working with the California Mountain Bike Coalition (CAMTB), has helped Scott learn from others in the field who readily share their expertise and time. The opportunity has been very motivating, energizing, and enlightening. Scott probably learns something new about trail stewardship every work day. Conditions on the day or location are different and everybody brings different perspectives. There are a few key trail folks that Scott is particularly thankful to have learned from. BTCEB’s Henry Mitchell, and Ben Chang and Kevin Smallman from Wente and beyond have been great teachers and mentors. They’ve been educational, inspirational, and given him the chance to make mistakes.
This is an individual award, but it wouldn’t be possible without all the land manager staff, elected officials, and other stakeholders in the trail realm that are willing to engage, listen, consider, and work together. It also takes all the other volunteers like you that come out to trail stewardship days, practice respectful trail use for the open spaces and other users, and get others enthused about enjoying trails. Keep up the good work. We’ve got a whole lot more to do. Happy Trails.
