Although he joined the Roanoke A.T. Club only two years ago, Bruce Davidson is already an active member and regular volunteer. A Trail overseer, Bruce is the club's liaison with the Konnarock Trail Crew and has worked along with the crew the past two seasons on the Dragon's Tooth project (shown here looking over a day's accomplishments). He has worked hard to revive the club's A.T. corridor boundary program, monitoring the NPS-protected lands that buffer the Trail. And, he recently began working with ATC's phenology program to monitor a rare native plant and keep an eye out for invasive species that might threaten it.
Bruce lives a half-mile from the Trail on Catawba Mountain in Virginia. That proximity has led him to get out and do what needs to be done, whether it’s clearing the footpath, working on the boundary, reaching out to Trail neighbors, or providing directions to hikers gone astray, who sometimes turn up in his driveway, now a gated road paralleling the A.T. but previously the Trail itself.
A geologist who retired from the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, Bruce has always enjoyed being outdoors. His strong map skills have been an asset in his corridor boundary work.
ATC Land Protection Associate Alison Scheiderer says, “Bruce is incredibly familiar with all of his Trail neighbors and the segments of the boundary that he monitors, and he gets out onto the boundary regularly. Bruce is a wonderful asset for the Trail and RATC. We are incredibly lucky to be able to work with a man of so many talents and apparently bottomless reserves of love for the A.T.!”