How we work
What it actually takes to keep a trail open
A finished rail-trail looks effortless. Behind it is a constant cycle of maintenance, advocacy, and community-building — carried out by volunteers and funded by the people who use the trail.
The three pillars
Maintenance, advocacy, and community
Drop any one of these and a trail starts to close. RTC's work is the steady practice of all three at once.
Maintenance
The physical work that keeps trails open and safe: resurfacing, mowing, clearing downed trees and landslides, and building the benches, kiosks, and shelters trail users rely on.
Advocacy
The quiet, persistent work of protecting trail access — coordinating with railroads, municipalities, and the state, and securing the leases and grants that keep corridors public.
Community
The visible presence that grows the movement: annual events, visitor centers, and local chapters that turn a trail into a place where neighbors meet and the next generation falls in love with the outdoors.
The chapter model
Local hands, regional backbone
RTC works as a federation. The corporation provides the legal and organizational backbone — holding corridors, securing leases and grants, carrying insurance, and coordinating across municipalities — while 9 local chapters do the hands-on work on their own stretch of trail.
Each chapter is its own volunteer group with its own officers, its own maintenance schedule, and its own events. The Steel Valley Trail Council meets Wednesday mornings to clear trees and cut grass; the Westmoreland Yough Trail Chapter gathers the third Monday of each month in the West Newton visitor center; the Yough River Trail Council runs a campground and supply store in Connellsville. The work looks different in every town — which is exactly the point.
Find the chapter that keeps your local trail and you’ve found the people to ride, give, or volunteer with.
How it's funded
Where the money comes from
RTC and its chapters run lean. Almost every dollar comes from the trail community itself and goes straight back into the corridor.
Memberships
Most chapters run an annual membership. Dues are small but steady, and they fund the fuel, parts, and supplies that keep mowers running and surfaces repaired.
Donations
One-time and recurring gifts to RTC pay for larger needs — equipment, materials, bridge and trailhead improvements — that exceed what dues cover.
Grants & leases
RTC secures state and foundation grants for capital projects and holds the corridor leases and easements that keep trails legally open to the public.
Trail merchandise
Sales through the GAP Trail Store and chapter merchandise return directly to trail upkeep and the volunteer programs behind it.
The work never really stops.
Storms drop trees, surfaces wash out, and grass keeps growing. Steady support is what keeps the trails ahead of it.