Call-out for path repair surveyors

Walkers with a passion for the mountains are being sought to be the eyes on the hill for a project to maintain footpaths and conserve the fragile landscapes through which they run.

Adopt a Path is a flagship volunteering scheme run by the Outdoor Access Trust for Scotland (OATS), being delivered as part of The Mountains & The People project.  Adopt a Path allows those most passionate about Scotland’s mountains to become custodians of their favourite hill paths, conserving fragile upland landscapes by reporting on erosion damage or potential path issues and allowing maintenance tasks to be targeted to best effect.

Paths are available for adoption across both of Scotland’s National Parks: Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park and the Cairngorms National Park. Each path is different, with some short and gentle and others long or remote. Once registered, volunteers can choose which path they would like to adopt from the list of available routes.

Adopt a Path volunteers are required to survey their path at least once a year, ideally once in the spring and once at the end of summer. Volunteers decide when they can undertake the survey, there are no set dates.

The key tasks of an Adopt a Path volunteer are:

•to undertake a visual path survey by walking the path route,

•to take photographs of path issues and record information about the nature of the problem and its location,

•to use our Adopt a Path website to report path issues.

Adopt a Path volunteers are expected to be used to spending time outdoors, to be experienced hill walkers, have good physical fitness, be self-reliant in mountain environments, be confident lone working and have good health and safety awareness.  All Adopt a Path volunteers will receive training and support to undertake their surveys in a safe manner which provides the type of information OATS requires to ensure these paths are maintained for generations to come.

There will be two Adopt a Path training days in September. There will be both indoor and outdoor elements to the day and the training will cover:

•overview of the scheme and what is involved

•basic mountain awareness

•identifying common path problems

•how to use our online reporting system

The training days will be on Saturday 2nd September in the Cairngorms National Park, at Spittal of Glen Muick Visitor Centre, and on Sunday 3rd September in the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park, at Balmaha Visitor Centre.

Anyone interested in becoming an Adopt a Path volunteer should email Julie for more information and to book the training days, at volunteering@themountainsandthepeople.org.uk