Podcast S2 E8: So You Want to Be a Trail Professional?



February 10, 2025 | 41:59


Description: 

In this episode, Candace Brendler speaks with Aaryn Kay and Mike Passo about the Trail Skills Project and the evolving landscape of trail building careers. They discuss their personal journeys into the trail industry, the importance of workforce development, and the role of volunteers in maintaining and building trails. The conversation also touches on the need for sustainable trail development, the various avenues into trail work, and the significance of language in defining trail professionals and their competencies.

This conversation delves into the multifaceted world of trail professionals, exploring their daily lives, the importance of professional development, the need for inclusivity in the industry, and the balance between passion and pay. The speakers discuss the various roles within trail work, the significance of training and education, and the ongoing efforts to create a more diverse workforce. They emphasize the rewarding nature of trail work, despite the challenges, and the importance of spreading awareness about career opportunities in this field.

 


Meet Mike

Mike Passo is the Executive Director of American Trails. Mike has also served as the Executive Director of the Professional Trailbuilders Association and the owner and operator of a sea kayak outfitter called Elakah Expeditions. Mike has led groups of all backgrounds, ages and abilities on sea kayak expeditions in the San Juan Islands of Washington, Vancouver Island in British Columbia, and in Glacier Bay, Alaska. 

Mike has conducted an extensive study of outdoor developed areas nationwide to determine the cost implications of construction according to proposed Americans with Disabilities Act standards, and a Congressional study on improving access to outdoor recreational activities on federal land. He has a B.S. in Recreation Resource Management from the University of Wisconsin—Madison, including three years’ coursework in Landscape Architecture and Civil Engineering. He has presented on Universal Design and Programming at several national conferences and served on the Board of Directors of American Trails since 2000. His love of the outdoors and his own paraplegia has given him a great interest in the creation of an accessible outdoor environment that does not ruin the characteristics and value of that environment.

 
Meet Aaryn

Aaryn Kay has worked with more than one hundred non-profits in almost every U.S. state and Canadian province, and she brings this non-profit management skill set and two decades of experience in the trail industry to her role as Executive Director of PTBA. Aaryn is also co-owner of Kay-Linn Enterprises, a PTBA member company. 

Prior to founding Kay-Linn in 2009, Aaryn coordinated trailbuilding and advocacy events nationwide, co-taught 150 weekend long trailbuilding seminars for volunteers and land managers in 32 states, instructed a graduate-level environmental education course at Duke University, and directed Duke’s Nicholas School of the Environment’s Community Outreach. Aaryn has a Masters of Environmental Management and a Masters of Arts in Teaching from Duke University with a focus on conservation biology and environmental education.

 
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