The same rugged and hilly, forested and sometimes swampy characteristics of Little Bennett Park that make it such a great place to walk, hike, jog, and ride have quite literally a down side. The often sloping terrain on Little Bennett's trails is more prone to erosion than would be flatter trails following the natural contours of the land. Hillside erosion on heavily forested lands inevitably leads to downed trees on trails. Thus the 23 miles of trail in Little Bennett Park are in need of periodic inspections with problems reported to Park officials who can fix them.

Friends of Little Bennett are looking for people who use the trails in the Park on a fairly regular or even occasional basis. We seek volunteers willing to spend a couple of hours every now and then helping us monitor and perform light maintenance on the trails while you are using them. Please see the Trails section of our website for descriptions, photos and maps of Little Bennett’s many trails.

What do trail monitors do?

First, they take the MNCPPC's Volunteer Trail Ranger (VTR) training program to get "qualified". In the 4-hour class, they learn the trail standards that define how wide the trails should be and what should be the clearance for pedestrians on hiker only trails and horses on multi-use trails. They are taught what to look for while walking their trails, what to try to repair on their own, and what to report to the Park's Central Service facility.

VTRs monitor on a quarterly basis their chosen 2-4 mile stretches of trail looking for such problems as erosion, exposed roots that can trip users, and leaning or downed trees. They also do light pruning with hand-tools to help maintain the trail where it does not meet the standard.

Volunteer trail monitors play a critical role in helping keep Little Bennett's outstanding trail network useable and safe by reporting problems such as these.