By Olivia Huddleston

Webster says a volunteer is "a person who voluntarily undertakes or expresses willingness to undertake a service". We all volunteer one way or another but do we really commit to a project?

One of the tasks which falls upon the Kansas Trails Council is to build and maintain trails. This is a huge undertaking, which cannot be done without additional volunteers.

If you are an area trail user, whatever your discipline, please contact someone in the Council or someone you know who works on the trails and offer to help. If you have never come in contact with anyone who works on the trails, then contact your State Park office or you local Corps of Engineers office and find out who is in charge of maintenance. If the office personnel can not tell you whom to talk to, ask them if you may volunteer to work on the trail yourself when maintenance is needed. This is sometimes how volunteerism gets started.

This state has great potential for recreational trails. Look around and see what needs to be done. Could you do the work and help out with the trail? Do you know anyone who would help? Do you know whom to contact? [Contact any board member listed on the board of directors' page.] The Kansas Trails Council would ask you to make a commitment, to make a difference on Kansas's trails and to be a volunteer for work on our trails.