RALEIGH, N.C.-
Allen de Hart’s first trail project was a two-mile path through the woods to his school, so he and his brothers could avoid a long, boring bus ride to school on the Virginia back roads.
Some 70 years later, the man affectionately known as “Earth Daddy” is still building trails and coaxing scores of volunteers to join his lifelong mission of environmental protection.
Now one of his projects, North Carolina’s Mountains to Sea trail, has been recognized with the Steward for the Environment Award from the REI outdoor equipment store. The award includes $20,000 for the Friends of the Mountains to Sea Trail.
De Hart, 80, founded the organization 20 years ago to help build a 1,000-mile walking path across North Carolina.
The money is about 10 times the amount raised annually in private donations by the Friends of the Mountains to Sea Trail, president Jeff Brewer said. The group also receives government and other grants.
The Mountains to Sea Trail has grown in bits and pieces since the early 1980s. Most recently, a 10.5 mile section in the Pisgah National Forest was designated a finalized part of the trail in May, completing a 240-mile section of continuous natural-surface trail in the western mountains.
In June, a 26-mile section along Falls Lake, north of Raleigh, was named a National Recreational Trail.
De Hart started his trailblazing when he was 10. Confronted with the option of a slow bus ride or a four-mile walk to school over winding back roads, he and his two younger brothers decided to make their own path through the woods. “We really enjoyed that,” de Hart said. “It is still there.”
Also honored this year by REI were:
–Pete Fish of Sacramento, Calif., for his work on the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail.
–Fran Taylor of San Francisco, for her work with the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition.
–Jan Prentice of Seattle, for her leaving-no-trace work with the Girl Scouts of AmericaTotem Council.
–Anna Ryan of Tempe, Ariz., for her work with the Volunteers for Outdoor Arizona.
–Bill Tregoning of Boise, Idaho, for his work with the Winter Wildlands Alliance.
–Dan Harrison of Troy, Mich., for his work with the Michigan Mountain Biking Association.
–Nataka Crayton of Boston, for her work with the Urban Ecology Institute.
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