Regional conservation association recognizes Chattanooga native for 'distinguished service'

Contributed photo by the Benton MacKaye Trail Association / Rick Harris, Benton MacKaye Trail Association Tennessee/North Carolina maintenance director, was presented the association's Distinguished Service award in November for his contributions since he joined the group in 2005. Harris is only the sixth person to receive the award in the association's 40-year history.
Contributed photo by the Benton MacKaye Trail Association / Rick Harris, Benton MacKaye Trail Association Tennessee/North Carolina maintenance director, was presented the association's Distinguished Service award in November for his contributions since he joined the group in 2005. Harris is only the sixth person to receive the award in the association's 40-year history.
photo Contributed photo by the Benton MacKaye Trail Association / Rick Harris, Benton MacKaye Trail Association Tennessee/North Carolina maintenance director, was presented the association's Distinguished Service award in November for his contributions since he joined the group in 2005. Harris is only the sixth person to receive the award in the association's 40-year history.

A regional conservation association is recognizing a Chattanooga native for his contributions over more than 15 years on the Benton MacKaye Trail in the mountains of Tennessee, Georgia and North Carolina.

Rick Harris, who joined the trail group in 2005, is only the fifth member to receive the association's prestigious "Benton MacKaye Distinguished Service Award," according to a news release from the Benton MacKaye Trail Association.

Harris, a Baylor School graduate, currently serves as the association's Tennessee/North Carolina maintenance director and has also served as its representative to the state of Tennessee, but many of his contributions have also been made with a saw or shovel in hand.

Harris said it's all about the future and maintaining nature's footpaths for the next generation of nature lovers.

"Whatever I do, my goal is to train other people to take over my position," Harris said in the release. "I want to create a group of people who will be able to carry on and do as good a job - or even a better job - of running the maintenance program."

Harris also has worked with association officials recently seeking congressional approval to get the trail named a National Scenic Trail.

Learn more

To learn more about the Benton MacKaye Trail Association and how to volunteer, go to the association website, bmta.org or write to jwfbrga@gmail.com to contact association vice president Joy Forehand.

(READ MORE: National designation sought for Benton MacKaye Trail that traces 300-mile path through Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina)

Association President Ken Cissna said the distinguished service award is given only occasionally.

"It honors someone who has served the association over a considerable period of time, in multiple capacities, and whose work has been consequential," Cissna said Thursday in an email.

"Rick has done it all for the Benton MacKaye Trail Association and for a long time," he said.

The award recognizes Harris for co-authoring and researching the association's guidebooks, serving as maintenance director several times, meeting with federal and state agencies about the trail, providing instruction to volunteer trail workers, assisting with media representation, managing annual trail volunteer awards, serving as a role model for volunteers and enlisting people to help with trail work, according to award information.

It was presented at the association's annual meeting in Helen, Georgia, in a ceremony in November.

Harris developed a love for nature at a young age. His parents and his scoutmaster were enthusiastic hikers who passed on a love for hiking and the outdoors, and he even served as a scoutmaster for a local Boy Scouts troop while attending the University of Virginia, association officials said in the release.

photo Contributed photo by Benton MacKaye Trail Association / Benton MacKaye Trail Association Tennessee/North Carolina maintenance director Rick Harris leads a tailgate safety meeting with Boy Scout Troop 118 from Athens, Tenn., prior to a work trip to Bob Bald north of the Cherohala Skyway.

When he retired, Harris and his wife, Brenda, returned to Tennessee where he joined the Cherokee Hiking Club and met Ken Jones and other avid trail maintainers in the club. Officials said Jones encouraged Harris to join the Tellico/Ocoee Volunteer Trail Crew and later the Benton MacKaye Trail Association's maintenance team.

"I learned about trail maintenance by doing," Harris said in the release. "Ken [Jones] and others were great teachers and I signed onto both teams."

Harris still spends his Thursdays working alongside his wife and 10 to 15 other trail maintainers - sometimes Boy Scouts, too - on the Benton MacKaye Trail and other nearby trails.

"We bring quite a few interesting people home with us," Brenda Harris said in the release. "We've brought many very tired and very thirsty hikers - as well as a few injured hikers - home for a good night's rest."

Through the years, Harris has completed many projects for the association, officials said, including compiling and editing association's Georgia Guide, Tennessee/North Carolina Guide and The Smokies Guide.

Harris' current project is Great Hikes and Backpack Trips near Tellico Plains, Tennessee. He is also involved in a revision of Will Skelton's book, "Cherokee National Forest Hiking Guide," editing the sections on trails in the Tellico Ranger and Ocoee Ranger districts, officials said.

The 288-mile Benton MacKaye Trail traces an 82-mile path in Georgia and 206 miles more along the Tennessee/North Carolina border, including lands in the Cherokee National Forest in Tennessee, Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest in Georgia and Nantahala National Forest in North Carolina.

Contact Ben Benton at bbenton@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6569. Follow him on Twitter @BenBenton.

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