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Volunteer Hours: 2010
National Hours: 315,442
Local Hours: 1,743

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Meet the Rangers

On January 12 2011, bchet member Dianne Noyes interviewed Gray Buckles, Cherokee National Forest Ranger Trails Specialist for Unaka District

What is Your passion?
“being in the wilderness”

Is this your “dream job”?
“100%! I have given this a lot of thought”. At this point in the interview, Gray leans forward and becomes animated and energized. “Happiness”, for Gray, “is being outside in the wilderness doing trail work. A major turning point in my life occurred while I was in high school. In 1997 I was chosen by the Student Conservation Association that selects students from across the nation for work in conservation. I was afforded the opportunity by the SCA to build trails and restore habitat for five weeks in Alaska at Kenai Fjords National Park. Our base camp was fifty yards from a glacier where we could just walk out and look at it. This experience changed me and expanded into a career track in trail conservation. I became motivated to travel back into the mountains and go hiking. In 1997 I began to save and planned for two and one half years to walk the Appalachian Trail. On February 15, 2000, I began to hike north on the Appalachian Trail at Springer Mountain in Georgia. Five and one half months later I summited Katahdin on August 2, 2000. I was on the Appalachian Trail for 170 days”.

What do you do every day?
There are 180,000 acres in this district. My interest is in land and trail management. I am a technician, the “guy on the ground”. When I arrived here two years ago there were many trail related projects “on the shelf” so to speak. The unexpected 2010 stimulus money provided for us to build waterfall trails and destination trails. I have been involved in a lot of training this year. Attending trail meetings and trail clearing classes.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
Still a trail technician in the Unaka District. There is a lot of work to be done. It is all about the public and getting people out onto the trails. This means parking, signage, trail blazing and trail maintainence. I work for the public. Assisting the public to gain access into the forest through trails. This is what excites me! I want to create more and better trails.

What is the importance of the Back Country Horsemen to you?
The Back Country Horsemen play an integral role in the trail program in this district. The Back Country Horsemen contribute by far the most volunteer hours of any trail group in the district. They provide extensive information on trail conditions and valuable insight on trail restoration and development. Without the Back Country Horsemen we wouldn’t be where we are today. My top priority for 2011 is the development of Limestone Cove and the connector with Dark Hollow.

Gray Buckles obtained his Bachelor of Science Degree in “Parks and Recreation Management” from East Tennessee State University. Gray lives in the center of the Unaka District with his young family and the family dog, “Sadie”, a small German Shepard. Gray is in his early thirties and is a now a father with his young family. He proudly claims that having a child has changed his life completely. His young daughter is already charting her way into what the wilderness has to offer guided by her father. Gray is contemplating a move to a larger home in the country where he can care for many more animals for his little girl, have privacy, trees and quiet.

In September of 2010, Cherokee National Forest Special Trails Ranger Kerry Wood accepted a position in New Mexico, much closer to his home. In his own words, Kerry states the following;

I am originally from Austin, Texas but have also lived in Colorado, Wyoming, Virginia and Tennessee. I moved to Virginia from Wyoming (where I was working seasonally for the Bridger-Teton National Forest) to complete a Master's in Forestry at Virginia Tech. After finishing school, I worked for the Appalachian Trail Conservancy for nearly 4 years as a Regional Trails Specialist helping to manage about 400 miles of the Appalachian Trailas well as managing the Appalachian Trail Conservancy's largest trail crew program (that completed projects on over 900 miles of the Appalachian Trail). In August of 2009, I accepted a position with the Cherokee National Forest and moved to Johnson City, Tennessee.

Completing a list of "accomplishments" is hard for me since I feel that many "major" projects are just now clearing the hurdles to implement and that my replacement will get to have all the fun!

However, here are a few relevant to the Back Country Horsemen of East Tennessee: With the cooperation and help from volunteers of Back Country Horsemen of East Tennessee I:

*Opened Flint Mill Trail to horse use (to the hitching post)

*Built hitching post near Flint Rock as well as completed stream crossing rehab work

*Installed new sign posts at many locations (hopefully will continue)

*Cleared 90% of existing trails on Holston Mountain

*Planned and flagged new trail "Fish Dam RR" and Holston Mountain Trail reroute

*Redesigned trail information boards for Griffith and Hinkle Branch Trail Heads (to be installed when signage and blazing are completed)

*Installed grade dips (drainage) on lower half of Chestnut Flats Trail>

*Realigned and opened sections of Chestnut Flats Trail.

I have cherished all the time working with Back Country Horsemen of East Tennessee and I hope the trails program continues to move forward after I leave!

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Website Last Updated Feb. 28, 2012