This past September more than 175 representatives from organizations and public agencies dedicated to sustaining 21 of our nation’s most renowned trails gathered in Duluth, Minnesota, for the Partnership for the National Trails System’s 11th Conference on National Scenic and Historic Trails. In front of this crowd of his colleagues, peers, and friends (including representatives from the America’s Byways Resource Center, American Hiking Society, Bureau of Land Management, Federal Highway Administration, National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and U.S. Forest Service), the Pacific Crest Trail Association’s (PCTA’s) Trail Operations Director, Mike Dawson, was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award for his more than 25 years of work for national trails.

Mike began his trails career with the Appalachian Trail Conference of Harpers Ferry, West Virginia (now the Appalachian Trail Conservancy), where he served as a Regional Representative responsible for the management of 390 miles of the Appalachian National Scenic Trail. Mike’s more than 20 years of accomplishments at the Appalachian Trail Conference included spearheading a regional summer crew program, serving as a spokesman and arbitrator for the private trail community, and coordinating trail and resource management activities between five Forest Service districts, two National Park Service units, lands managed by the Commonwealth of Virginia’s Department of Conservation and Recreation, and eight volunteer trail management organizations. For his work with the Appalachian Trail Conference, Mike was honored with a Forest Service Forest Supervisor’s Award in 2000. The award was given “in appreciation for 20 years of dedicated service to the cooperative management of the Appalachian Trail corridor on the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests.”

Prior to joining the PCTA staff in 2004, Mike served as Director of Trail Management and Protection for the Pacific Northwest Trail Association (PNTA) in Mount Vernon, Wash. The Pacific Northwest Trail (PNT) runs for 1,200 miles from the Olympic coast to Glacier National Park in Montana. While at the PNTA, Mike was the lead staff member for a variety of programs designed to assure long-term protection of the PNT. He developed crew programs to support the construction and maintenance of the PNT route on federal, state, and private land. In June 2002, as a direct result of Mike’s efforts, the first section of the PNT (in the North Cascades) was given official federal recognition as a National Recreation Trail.

At the PCTA, Mike has developed and continues to expand a very successful new Regional Representative program. Additionally, under his management, the PCTA’s trail-wide volunteer program has grown noticeably, with trail related volunteer hours increasing by 27% from 2005 to 2006. He has developed effective relationships with federal agency partners, with volunteers and trail maintaining groups, as well as with the PCTA board and staff.

Mike’s experience and knowledge is recognized nationwide in the trails community, as evidenced by his selection for a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Partnership for the National Trails System. “Our Lifetime Achievement Award,” says Gary Werner, Executive Director of the Partnership for the National Trails System, “honors and thanks individuals who have given outstanding service over many years to sustain national scenic or historic trails. We proudly presented this award to Mike Dawson in recognition of his many years of patiently fostering cooperative partnerships between citizen volunteers and public agencies to help sustain three of America’s premier trails. Mike’s cheerful empowerment of volunteers and ability to competently forge lasting, beneficial working relationships with public trail managers make him a highly respected leader in our National Trails System community.”
 
“Mike is a critical asset to the PCTA,” adds Liz Bergeron, PCTA Executive Director. “His breadth of experience and expertise combined with his ability to connect with a wide variety of people – from volunteers, to hikers and equestrians, to land management agency staff - have been incredibly beneficial to our Pacific Crest Trail management and protection programs. We are very fortunate to have Mike as one of our organization’s leaders.”