Ed Oliver

March 2010

Ed Oliver’s fellow volunteers think he is part mole because he “loves to dig.”  A volunteer trail maintainer and builder for thirty five years, this member of the Tennessee Eastman Hiking and Canoeing Club (TEHCC) has done plenty of digging – as well as other work – on the A.T. 
  
Ed signed up for the hiking club soon after starting work at Eastman, and when club leaders requested help maintaining the TEHCC’s 134 mile Trail section, he signed on. 
  
Ed started doing basic maintenance – repainting blazes, cutting brush and clearing blowdowns.  As he gained experience, he became the team leader, and then joined a group that took on more complex projects.  After the US Forest Service/TEHCC/ATC Optimal Location Review identified several Trail sections in Tennessee that needed to be relocated or redesigned, Ed was one of the volunteers who took on the massive, multi-year project.   
As relocation coordinator, Ed helped “improve the Eastman section making it accessible to all, not just the super-fit.” Moving the A.T. off ridgelines, where it had become badly eroded, he designed switchbacks and other sustainable features.    
  
“Ed is a joy to work with and a stalwart of the TEHCC trail crew,” says Morgan Sommerville, ATC’s Southern Regional Director.  He “is a great trail designer, having designed most TEHCC relocations of the last 15 years.” Ed credits other TEHCC volunteers: “it has all been an effort of multiple people, none of us can do it without . . . the other folks,” he says.  Thanks, Ed!