COLORADO — Congratulations to Loretta Mcellhiney, Colorado Fourteeners program manager and forest technician on the Pike-San Isabel National Forest! In May 2024, she received the Legends Award from the Outdoor Recreation Roundtable at their first-ever National Outdoor Recreation Executive Forum.

The Outdoor Recreation Roundtable annually recognizes one individual from each Federal land management agency with its Legends Award. This award acknowledges the extraordinary efforts of individuals who have expanded and enhanced recreation opportunities through public/private partnerships or have increased participation in outdoor recreation through innovative programs based on public/private partnerships. 

Mcellhiney has contributed as much, or more, to high alpine recreation, adventure and conservation in Colorado than any other Forest Service employee in recent history. As the first, and only, program manager for the Colorado Fourteeners (those peaks in Colorado above 14,000 feet in elevation), she has designed and constructed more than 50 new trails and worked with volunteers and partners to improve, construct and re-build hundreds more miles of trail along the way. 

Mcellhiney began her career with the Forest Service in 1989 as a seasonal wilderness ranger and trail crew leader. Only three years into her job with the agency, she was asked to help design a trail to the summit of Mt. Elbert. After successfully completing the Mt. Elbert project, she and a partner organization inventoried Forest Service recreation areas across Colorado to identify areas suffering substantial resource degradation. They identified the Colorado Fourteeners as one of the most critical areas facing significant damage due to their rising popularity and poorly designed or non-existent approved system trails.

Mcellhiney was also instrumental in identifying a critical need for high-alpine stewardship on Colorado peaks. As such, she helped to establish the Colorado Fourteeners Initiative whose sole purpose is stewardship of these resources. She continues to work with partner organizations to improve processes for planning, siting, designing, and constructing sustainable high-alpine trails that satisfy the needs of visitors. These improvements have helped make high-alpine trail construction more cost-effective and with less impact on natural and cultural resources. 

Mcellhiney is continually searching for ways to improve all aspects of trail management, from high-alpine rock work and rigging to GPS and GIS integration in trail planning, design, construction and maintenance. She is always looking for ways to make trail maintenance, construction and access safer for agency staff, partners, volunteers and the public. Most importantly though, Mcellhiney is constantly learning from her peers and colleagues, regardless of background, age or experience. She learns from everyone. She is frequently called upon by Forest Service staff from across the nation for her advice and guidance on high-alpine trail work and partnership engagement. 

Congratulations to Loretta and thank you for your continued incredible work for our agency. Learn more about the Colorado Fourteeners trail maintenance priority area.