Kemotrail Corps Inc

Having started with the club in 2002, I have seen it grow from a crew that was counted on one hand to days with over 100 volunteers working on multiple projects. We have grown into a full fledged partner with the National Park Service, with the superintendent sitting in on all of our board meetings. Our 10 person board. Our workdays give a person the chance to make a visible impact on the quality of the hiking trails in the park in just one workday. Now our workdays see trail crews as diverse as they can be, corporate types, military personnel, inter-city kids, university students, high school students, grade school kids, track clubs, horse riders and scout organizations. If a company wants a special work day just to draw their people together, we even arrange that as well..

In 2009 when my youngest graduated from high school I found that I had lots of free time on my hands. I wanted to find a community project that I could get involved with. While hiking at Kennesaw Mountain I saw a notice asking for volunteers to come out and work on Saturday doing some trail maintenance. In the 9 years I had lived in Kennesaw I had made many hikes up the mountain and love the outdoors so I thought I would give it a try. I cannot believe it has been over 3 years since I started volunteering with the Kennesaw Mountain Trail Club. I have learned so much about trail maintenance, invasive plants and the history of the mountain, before, during and after the Civil War.

The Kennesaw Mountain Trail Club is a wonderful organization. They not only work on maintaining the trails at Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield but also are helping in preserving our history. Their efforts are supported by volunteers in the many man hours of service that they have so generously given along with grants and donations.

I originally volunteered at Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park because I wanted to remedy one problem on one of the trails after I got involved, I learned much the community loves this metropolitan wilderness area and how small the staff is that is committed to the natural and historical preservation of this most visited (more than 1.5 million visitors in 2010) National Civil War Battlefield. In the last 10 years we have done more than 90% of all the maintenance and construction on the 20+ miles of trails in the park. Since 2009, we have grown and implemented a trail ambassador program that provides expanded visitor support in a wide variety of ways including safety, Historical interpretation, Visitor guidance and staff support for the Visitor Center.
The all volunteer Kennesaw Mountain Trail Club donated more than 16,000 Hours to the park in Fiscal 2012. The club has no paid staff, offices, and only limited administrative expenses. More than 90% of all grants and donations goes directly to supporting the park, and Community outreach to bring more people from many backgrounds and ethnicity to the park to experience the outdoors, and learn about the history that has taken place on these 3,000 acres.

Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield is the most visited Civil War battle field in the entire park system due to its closeness to the Atlanta meto area and the huge number of colleges and university's in the area. With the National Park Service reducing the number of park service personnel over the years, the Kennesaw Mountain Trail Club has been a huge reason that the trails in the park are as well maintained as they are. Volunteering for them is a great way to see a days effort result in a visible return in better trails, for a short amount of time invested.