Zuni youth join summer trail crew to maintain community paths
Three Zuni youth took paid summer trail jobs to replace worn markers, move trailheads and keep more than 60 miles of community paths open.
Three paid summer jobs on the Pueblo of Zuni are now tied to repairs that will affect families, runners and visitors across a trail network that stretches more than 60 miles. The Zuni Youth Enrichment Project launched its 2026 Summer Trail Crew on June 18, giving local youth work that reaches far beyond a single season.
This year’s crew includes Anisah Vacit, 23, Connor Seowtewa, 17, and Johnathon Niiha, 17. Under ZYEP Facilities and Built Environment Coordinator Thomas Zunie and Built Environment Leader Enric Tsalate, the crew will maintain trails, replace aging infrastructure and help keep routes usable across the Pueblo of Zuni.
The work is rooted in a system that ZYEP and the Zuni Health & Wellness Coalition helped establish in 2014. By 2024, the network had grown to more than 60 miles across 11 distinct routes, connecting most residential neighborhoods and serving thousands of Pueblo residents. The trails also support community programming such as Running Medicine and the Trail Stickers Scavenger Hunt, making the network part of daily life rather than a stand-alone recreation project.
The 2026 crew will focus on practical repairs that are easy to see and hard to ignore. ZYEP said one major task is replacing wooden mile markers with fiberglass posts on Bear, Cougar, Wolf and Cottonwood trails after termites damaged the old markers. The crew also will help address vandalism-related problems, including a planned reroute of Blackrock Trail that would remove the current trailhead and relocate it beside Cottonwood Trail. ZYEP said it also plans to move the Mt. Bluebird Trailhead for similar reasons.
The trail work is part of a broader built-environment effort supported by New Mexico’s Outdoor Recreation Trails+ Grant. ZYEP received $99,999 for fiscal year 2026, with the plan calling for renovations to nine trailheads, cultural and educational signage from a Zuni perspective and youth trail-crew training. New Mexico said in June 2026 that $12 million would be available statewide for Trails+ projects beginning July 1.
For ZYEP, the summer crew fits a larger mission to promote resilience among Zuni youth so they grow into strong, healthy adults connected with Zuni traditions. The organization says it has invested $17.5 million in the Zuni community since 2009, with programs spanning physical activity, arts, food sovereignty, summer camp and youth leadership. It is the third straight year ZYEP has operated a trail crew, after a 2024 pilot with three youth workers and a 2025 crew that improved parking areas at Wolf Trail and Bear-Cougar Trail using recycled concrete.
Seowtewa said the job lets him combine an interest in the outdoors with hands-on work that benefits the community. Niiha, who attends Middle College High School in Gallup, said he values learning new skills and building toward college and career opportunities. In McKinley County, where the 2020 Census counted 72,902 residents, the program ties youth employment to cultural access, public infrastructure and the long-term health of a trail system used every day.
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