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AMERICAN HIKING SOCIETY VOLUNTEER NAMES
NATIONAL VOLUNTEER OF THE YEAR

Volunteers play an integral role in the establishment, maintenance and protection of trails across the country. The Volunteer of the Year Award honors dedicated volunteers from across the United States for their tireless efforts to promote healthy recreation, stewardship, and conservation of our public lands and hiking trails. As part of National Trails Day® 2007, American Hiking Society continues the tradition of honoring outstanding citizens who dedicate their time and energy to establishing, protecting and maintaining America’s trails with our 13th annual “Volunteer of the Year” Awards. Volunteers were awarded in 9 regions with Dave and Gwen Fuehring from the Ozark Trail Association taking away the national title. Thank you all for your dedication to our nation’s trails!

Dave and Gwen Fuehring, Central States Region and National Winners

Gwen and Dave Fuehring of Maryland Heights, MO have been named American Hiking Society's 2007 National Volunteers of the Year for their outstanding contributions to hiking trails, their work with the Ozark Trail Association and the American Hiking Society. Mr. and Mrs. Fuehring, also the Central States regional winners, stood out among the other deserving candidates for their work clearing a trail hit very hard by severe storms throughout 2006.

Gwen and Dave have participated in 19 sawing, trail layout, and scouting outings. Combined, they have contributed a total of 455 hours and 79 days working on the Ozark Trail. They also served as crew leaders for the May 2006 Volunteer Vacation on the Karkaghne Section of the Ozark Trail. They have traveled over 5500 miles to work on trail outings, and they have sawed an estimated 150 miles of trail over the past year. The trail has been hit very hard during the past year. In the wake of tornados, windstorms, and ice storms, long sections of the Ozark Trail were literally impassable due to downfall. Gwen and Dave alone, from September to the end of December 2006, sawed over 60 miles of trail. Clearing a mile and a half of this type of storm damage often involved cutting and swamping anywhere from 20-50 trees - as challenging as clearing 4-5 miles on a "normal" day. Despite the efforts of the Ozark Trail Association to find volunteers willing take the initiative and saw deadfall, the Fuehrings are the only couple to run with that assignment. Without them, the trail would be impassible.

Regional Winners

Martin Kubik, Great Lakes Region
Bruce Wisely, Mid-Atlantic Region
Bob Garrison, New England Region
Linda McKenna Boxx, Northeast Region
Gudrun Gaskill, Rocky Mountain-Dakotas Region
Gary Monk, South Region
Bernie Stalmann, Southwest Region
Ben White, West Region

American Hiking Society Volunteer of the Year Award Regions
South Region	Mid-Atlantic Region	Northeast Region
Alabama Florida Georgia Mississippi South Carolina Virgin Islands	Kentucky North Carolina Virginia Tennessee West Virginia Washington, DC	Delaware Maryland New Jersey New York Pennsylvania>
New England Region	Great Lakes Region	Central States Region
Connecticut Maine Massachusetts New Hampshire Rhode Island Vermont	Illinois Indiana Michigan Minnesota Ohio Wisconsin	Arkansas Iowa Kansas Louisiana Missouri Nebraska
Southwest Region	Rocky Mountain/ Dakotas Region	West Region
Arizona New Mexico Oklahoma Texas Utah	Colorado Idaho Montana North Dakota South Dakota Wyoming	Alaska California Hawaii Nevada Oregon Washington

See past Volunteer of the Year winners.

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AMERICAN HIKING SOCIETY VOLUNTEER NAMES NATIONAL VOLUNTEER OF THE YEAR

AMERICAN HIKING SOCIETY VOLUNTEER NAMES
NATIONAL VOLUNTEER OF THE YEAR