Just in time for National Trails Day, June 2, the Montgomery County Department of Parks is launching a new volunteer trail ranger program for sections of the county's more than 100 miles of natural surface trail.

"We're teeing up motivated volunteers to be our eyes and ears on the trails and report back problems through an official inspection process," said Department of Parks Volunteer Trail Coordinator Ben Sugar. "The kinds of people we're expecting to attract with this program are those who already care about the trails because they're out there enjoying them and have a vested interest in seeing them maintained to a high standard."

The new volunteer trail rangers will help keep the trail system safe and clean by performing light trail maintenance on designated sections and inspecting and reporting problems back to the Department of Parks every three months and after big storms. The initial program launch sites are at Wheaton Regional Park, Northwest Branch (a section of the Rachel Carson Greenway), Blockhouse Point, Rachel Carson Conservation Park, and Hoyles Mill Trail, a connector trail between Black Hill Regional Park and South Germantown Recreational Park.

"If you love the outdoors, especially hiking, cycling, horseback riding or exploring our trails and have a few hours to spare each month--we want to talk to you," added Sugar.

Two training dates for the new volunteer trail rangers have been set: Saturday, June 2, National Trails Day, and Saturday, June 16. In each session, ranger trainees will learn about basic trail standards, how to spot and report significant trail problems using the inspection form and how to handle simple maintenance issues, such as encroaching vegetation.

To get the program fully operational as quickly as possible, the Department of Parks is asking volunteer trail rangers to begin inspecting their assigned section of trail within two weeks of completing the training. Rangers will hit the trails with a clipboard and inspection forms, a map of their segment of trail, flagging tape and an ID badge, all provided by the Department of Parks.

"Parks volunteers are making a real difference throughout our parks system," said Department of Parks Volunteer Services Coordinator Jayne Hench. "We have no doubt this new group of trail rangers will continue this legacy."

Potential volunteer trail rangers must be 18 years of age or older, available to volunteer between 3-8 hours every 3 months for at least 1 year, commit to park policies and procedures and able to work without direct supervision.

For more information on the department's new volunteer trail ranger program, including a listing of all the benefits and requirements or for more on other volunteer opportunities in the parks, visit www.ParksVolunteers.org.

For more on the department's trails see www.MontgomeryTrails.org.