BREVARD, N.C. (828newsNOW) — Pisgah Area SORBA, a local nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation of over 150 miles of trails in the Pisgah Ranger District, has been awarded $5.6 million in disaster relief funding from the National Forest Foundation, a congressionally-charted nonprofit partner of the USDA Forest Service.

The funding, which will be distributed over the course of four and a half years, will assist PAS with rebuilding the infrastructure of the Pisgah Ranger District following the damage dealt to the region by Tropical Storm Helene in September 2024.

How the funding will help

According to Stacey Wiedrich, director of engagement for PAS, the $5.6 million will help the nonprofit level up the work its volunteers do within the Pisgah Ranger District.

“This specific funding that our organization will utilize would basically be to help manage, support, maintain, construct all different projects related to trails within the Ranger district,” Wiedrich said. “It is basically for any of the trails that were affected by Helene, which, a lot of those trails are already trails that are a part of our annual maintenance plan, and so, it’ll help us support continuing to bring up the level of maintenance for the trails that are within the district.”

Wiedrich estimated that PAS maintained an active volunteer base of around 450 since January 2026, as well as almost 200 young volunteers from a program for middle school, high school and college-aged kids. An average workday for a PAS volunteer could include digging drainage lanes for trail debris, constructing bridges over sunken trail patches or clearing brush from the sight lines of hikers and mountain bikers.

Read our previous reporting on Pisgah Area SORBA volunteer work here.

Wiedrich said that the NFF funding will also assist with tackling bigger, more substantial trail projects.

“There’s some trails that have a much bigger rift to help,” Wiedrich said. “A good example would be a trail called Bradley Creek, which, right now, runs in and out of the creek called Bradley Creek. So, being able to take that trail and reroute it and bring it up out of the water.”

With bigger projects also comes a bigger team. PAS announced that two new members will be joining the staff of the nonprofit: Craig Brickser as Trails Program Director and Jared Hartman as Disaster Recovery Coordinator.

“Craig and Jared, they’re amazing,” Wiedrich said. “They have such strong skill sets to support all of this work, so we just feel really fortunate as a team to have such highly qualified, talented people, helping just to make everything continue to go in a really great direction.”

PAS recovery work is accomplished in collaboration with Pisgah Ranger District Rangers.

“The sheer volume of trail restoration work ahead of us after Hurricane Helene is unprecedented, and we simply cannot do it alone,” said Dave Casey, Pisgah Ranger District Ranger, in a PAS press release. “We are incredibly grateful for our partnership with Pisgah Area SORBA. Their ability to provide additional capacity to implement work on the ground with skilled leadership and dedicated volunteers is vital to turning this National Forest Foundation funding into real progress.”

Chris Kehmeier, executive director of PAS, emphasized the impact that teamwork between PAS, the Forest Service and the NFF will have on recovering from Helene.

“The recovery of the Pisgah Ranger District is a monumental task that requires unprecedented collaboration, dedicated leadership and long-term commitment,” said Kehmeier in a press release. “With the backing of the National Forest Foundation, the addition of Craig Brickser’s elite planning expertise and Jared Hartman’s proven field leadership directing our recovery logistics, we are fully equipped to rebuild stronger, more resilient trails for everyone who loves and relies on Pisgah.”

For more information about Pisgah Area SORBA or updates on Helene recovery efforts, visit www.pisgahareasorba.org.