AMC Trails Blog: Meet the AMC Trails Department Staff

AMC Director of Trails and Recreation Management: White Mountains, NH

I have been working with AMC's Trails Department since 2000, and I have had the privilege to share my experience with, well as learn from, the outstanding programs the Trails Department offers. I very much enjoy working with the wide variety of staff and volunteers on the over 1,700 miles of trails that AMC maintains.

Before working with the AMC I have spent several years working with recreation management all across Alaska. When not on the trails I can be found running my team of sled dogs on the trails in Maine.

Alex DeLucia

AMC Trails Volunteer Programs Manager, White Mountains, NH

I am originally from New Haven, CT, and a graduate of Unity College in Maine in Adventure Education/ Art. Before working with the AMC I led long distance canoe trips, worked for a dog sledding company, and worked as a climbing guide. I am been working with the AMC Trails Department since 2001, and got my start as a Camp Dodge Trail Crew Leader in the Whites. I still enjoy climbing and mountaineering, and food!
I now manage all of our Trails Volunteer Programming from NJ to northern Maine for you than and adults, and serve as the staff contact for AMC Chapter Trails Committees.

Alice Webber

Southern New England Regional Trails Supervisor: Berkshires, MA

Alice has extensive experience working with the Student Conservation Association as a Team Leader conducting TrACS Trail Condition Surveys in the White Mountain National Forest after T.S. Irene and as a Crew Leader of youth crews in California and New Jersey. Most recently Alice was working with the Maine Conservation Corps (MCC)as their Trail Training Instructor where she assisted with the hiring and training of MCC Trail Crew Leaders.
Serving as our Southern New England Regional Trails Supervisor Alice oversees the Berkshire Teen Trail Crews and Noble View Teen Trail Crew Programs, the Mass AT Ridge Runner program, and coordinating with our MA and CT AT Committee Volunteers. She is based out of the ATC's Kellogg Conservation Center in S. Egremont, MA.

Brendan Taylor
North Country Trails Volunteer Programs Supervisor: White Mountains, NH

Hello AMC Volunteers and Staff! I’m very excited to be joining this amazing community. When I first started working on trails on Mt. Greylock in Massachusetts, I encountered a couple of AMC trail workers. I remember being in awe, and a little bit intimated even, by their skills. Now, five years later, I am no longer intimidated, but still very much in awe of the outstanding work of AMC volunteers and staff.

I love trail work, I love trail monitoring and protection, and I love hiking on trails. Trail work fosters creativity and resourcefulness; it challenges me physically and mentally, and is immensely gratifying. Monitoring and protecting trails leaves me with a sense of ownership and investment in these vitally important natural resources, and just hiking on trails, especially ones I have worked on, allows to me to enjoy all of the hard work that goes into making trails.

Yet, working with volunteers is the most rewarding aspect of trail work. I have formed strong bonds with my fellow Student Conservation Association volunteer interns that will last me the rest of my life. I continue to be grateful of and quite impressed with the hard work and engagement from volunteers when working on trails. Working for the Pacific Crest Trail Association, I felt the passion of the countless volunteers who dedicated their time and effort to working and protecting that trail so that countless others could enjoy the PCT.

Working for volunteers, ensuring they have the support and encouragement they need and de serve to care for our natural areas, is why I love my job, and it is why I look forward to being a part of the AMC.

I consider myself very lucky to be a member of this community and I look forward to meeting all of you.

Beth Gula
Bay Circuit Trail Volunteer Programs Supervisor, Boston, MA

Beth earned her B.A. from Oberlin College in Ohio and has worked for several years as an experiential educator in the outdoors for youth and adults in the mid-Atlantic region. I had the pleasure of working with Beth when she was leading AMC teen trail crews for two years in the White Mountains and in the north woods of Maine. Most recently, Beth served as an AmeriCorps-MassLIFT Land Steward for Sudbury Valley Trustees in eastern Massachusetts (SVT). In that role, she collaborated with many of the key volunteers and communities on the BCT, so she will be able to hit the ground running as she transitions into this new role at the AMC.

In this role she coordinates with the existing volunteer communities working to ensure consistent trail standards along the BCT, planning and delivering various trail training for volunteers, offering numerous open enrolment stewardship events, and working with community and corporate groups to engage them in BCT stewardship activities. This grant-funded position will directly help us engage community volunteers in hands-on stewardship programming on the BCT.

TBA
White Mountain Trails Supervisor, White Mountains, NH

Kris Kebler
Contract Trail Services Supervisor, White Mountains, NH

Sally Manikian
Backcountry Resource Conservation Manager: White Mountains, NH

I have always believed in productive hard work and the power of communication, and have always felt most myself when in the woods of the White Mountains. Thus it's no surprise I became a backcountry caretaker for multiple years and seasons, from our AMC campsites to the rugged Mahoosuc range to the Randolph Mountain Club's frosty Gray Knob in winter. The work that caretakers accomplish as stewards, from trail reconstruction to campsite rehabilitation to human waste management to visitor education, is important work and I am thrilled that managing both the Backcountry Campsite program and the caretakers who staff it are now my full time job.

Before working full time at AMC, I was found teaching international political development at Plymouth State University, hitting the pavement as a small town Reporter as well as a community organizer, and guiding dog sled tours. I live in Berlin, New Hampshire, and serve on the volunteer Board of Directors for the Randolph Mountain Club as well as the Berlin Industrial Development and Park Authority.

Josh Surette
Trail Planner-New England National Scenic Trail: Amherst, MA

3-years into my position with AMC, and I couldn’t be happier! I started working as Trail Planner for the New England Trail in 2010, just after receiving my Master’s Degree from Antioch University in Resource Management and Conservation. Prior to that, the majority of my working life was spent in education (middle school science teacher and outdoor leader). Trails have connected many periods in my life, starting when I was a Unity College undergrad amidst a year of service with the Americorps, to my work over the past 10 years with the western Massachusetts rock-climbing community. What I love most about my current position is that it allows me to combine several of my interests and passions, and to interface with many of the folks in my neck of the woods doing conservation and recreation work.

John P. Brunner

Mid-Atlantic Recreation Planner: Bethlehem, PA
Dear fellow hikers and outdoor enthusiasts:
I came on board as the AMC Mid-Atlantic Recreational Planner in July 2010 and my primary responsibility is to extend the NY/NJ Highlands Trail into Pennsylvania from the Delaware River all the way to the Maryland border, along the entire length of the PA Highlands. I am also tasked with helping support the Mohican Trail Crew’s work on the Appalachian Trail as well as other trails in the region. I have a background in environmental planning and have two decades worth of experience in trail development (both land and water) and environmental advocacy in the Delaware River Basin. As a native of the Pennsylvania Highlands it’s a true privilege to work on behalf of the AMC on the PA Highlands Trail Network. (check out www.outdoors.org/PA_Highlands).