GRAND RAPIDS — Eric Maturi of Grand Rapids earned national recognition for his dedication to the North Country Trail at a recent gathering of the national association.
The North Country Trail Association hosted the national celebration in August in St. Ignace, Michigan, where Maturi received the Trail Builders Award for his service with the Arrowhead Chapter. The chapter is a Grand Rapids-based volunteer organization responsible for maintaining the trail through the area.
The local chapter reported Maturi has invested more than 1,000 hours over the last few years helping to advance the Tioga Beach to Highway 6 project, while also maintaining existing North Country Trail segments and scouting future segments.
Maturi cleared nearly all of the trail corridor of the 18-mile project himself. This entailed working alone in remote areas in wintertime, but he often worked alongside his father Jon Maturi, who separately earned recognition for 400 hours of volunteer service.
Eric Maturi also helped with the construction of the first couple of miles of trail tread in 2022-23 and was instrumental last fall in the construction of a 42-foot bridge and a 200-foot puncheon or plank walkway. For the puncheon project, Maturi drug over 100 treated timbers from the pile down the trail to where they were needed.
Maturi also serves on the chapter's trail committee, which has helped plan the trail's future route, reaches out to private landowners, coordinates with land managers and completes trail scouting and flagging work in the field. He worked on the chapter's urban signage project in 2023, which painted blue blazes and installed urban signs on 5 miles of the North Country Trail's 5-mile route through Cohasset and Grand Rapids.
When Maturi was informed he would be a recipient of this prestigious award, he said, "Well, that's cool, but the real award is getting the trail built and sharing it with anyone who is looking for a great place to hike and to enjoy the healing power of hiking."
Chapter President Holly Rose also earned an award for 100 hours of volunteer service.
The North Country Trail is the longest National Scenic Trail in the United States at 4,800 miles long. It traverses eight states and is predominantly maintained by volunteers. Each year, the North Country Trail Association formally recognizes the efforts of those who go above and beyond for the trail and their community. The association is the nonprofit partner of the National Park Service.
Learn more
To get involved with the North Country Trail, you can join the Arrowhead Chapter monthly meetings, join a hike or attend a work day by emailing arw@northcountrytrail.com. Submit a Volunteer Interest Form at northcountrytrail.org/volunteer-interest-form.