1. Introduction
1.1 Trailbuilding, a professional business?
Yes and no. Yes because it has been underestimated for years, and it is now more and more as a professional important work, which makes this course is happening. And no because there is a lot of different tasks to do, for building and also maintain trails, and there is a place for both professionals and volunteers.
It is sometimes said by professionals that volunteers are useless, that after them you need to do the job again. Those who say that are most of the time bad professionals, who are afraid to lose their job. But a lot of success stories exist, where a good combination between two groups of passionate builders work together.
As seen in the schema here, there is space for everyone. It is even better when working together, permitting each one to give the other one a little bit of his particularities. The bigger problem today is not that there are too many volunteers, but that some “professionals” don’t build in a professional way. The aim of this course it to ensure that you can work like a professional, which includes you can help volunteers doing their job as well, in a coordinate and positive way.