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The Vail Valley Mountain Trails Alliance had a really busy year in 2024

Work ranged from education to trail repair to barbed wire removal

Volunteers, like this group working on the EagleVail Trail in the summer of 2024, are the backbone of the Vail Valley Mountain Trails Alliance
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The Vail Valley Mountain Trails Alliance had a busy 2024 and is planning even more work this year.

The nonprofit local group on Tuesday gave the Eagle County Board of Commissioners an overview of its activity last year, and there was a lot to cover. From one end of the valley to the other, and from volunteer efforts to the work of paid ambassadors, the group was involved in activities ranging from educating locals and guests to broadening the horizons of residents who might not have experienced the backcountry.

By the numbers
  • 1,337 volunteers on 60 volunteer teams
  • 3,439 volunteer hours
  • 140 miles of trails maintained by those volunteers
  • 1,624 pounds of barbed wire removed

The group has helped cut down on what was once an epidemic of people tromping down Vail’s North Trail during elk calving season.



Group director Ernest Saeger told the commissioners that in the year before gates went up on either end of the trail, cameras recorded 200 trail violations in a month. After the gates went up, violations fell to 100 violations in three months. With the help of education from trail ambassadors, there were only about 10 violations during the 2024 calving season, a roughly three-month period in the spring and early summer.

Trail ambassadors, along with Front Country Rangers who are paid to work 40 hours a week, also help at the trailheads into the Eagles Nest and Holy Cross wilderness areas adjacent to the town of Vail.

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The trail alliance also has a strong volunteer base. More than 1,300 volunteers put in more than 3,400 hours to maintain 140 miles of trails. Besides those trails, those volunteers closed several “social,” or unauthorized, trails.

Saeger told the commissioners that working with the town of Eagle, Eagle County Open Space and other groups, the organization rerouted some trails away from water, and “decommissioned” roughly 15 miles of other trails.

Saeger noted that crews also took down more than 1,600 pounds of barbed wire from Meadow Mountain and Grouse Mountain, holdovers from days when ranchers and farmers tried to keep wildlife out of their fields. In a phone call after the meeting, Saeger said that fencing these days is a danger to humans, pets and wildlife, and taking it out is hard, and sometimes painful, work.

In addition to the hard work, the group’s mission of connecting the community to the outdoors includes “Soul Dirt,” an introduction to the backcountry that includes hikes, rides and backpacking. Nearly half the participants in that program are Hispanic, Saeger said. The alliance is also working to have Spanish-language trail signs installed this year.

Projects this year include supporting partners including several local nonprofits including local towns and agencies. That’s where a lot of the alliance’s funding comes from, Saeger said.

“It’s impressive what you’ve done with the program,” Commissioner Matt Scherr said, adding that the alliance has really connected its work to the community.

“Without that, you don’t go as far as you’ve gone,” he added.

Commissioner Jeanne McQueeney agreed adding that the alliance is a great example of their current motto: “Collaboration is our superpower.”


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