Call for Nominations: The Merrill Gilfillan Award

Volunteers and partners are the lifeblood of the Buckeye Trail Association. Volunteers and partners give thousands of hours of their time and energy to help build, maintain, protect and promote the enjoyment of Ohio’s 1,454 mile BT. Our volunteers deserve to be honored for their hard work on-trail and off-trail and we need your help to highlight all types of volunteers and partners around the state to thank them and encourage others to follow their leadership.

The deadline to nominate a volunteer or partner is July 1, 2026. The awards will be presented at a Virtual Awards Ceremony the week of August 24.

Questions? Contact the Awards Committee Chair at Awards@buckeyetrail.org

This week’s spotlight award category is The Merrill Gilfillan Award for Visionary Agency Partners

The Merrill Gilfillan Award for Visionary Agency Partners

This award is for visionary agency partners that go above and beyond the call of their position to imagine and implement an improved Buckeye Trail experience in the spirit of the original 1958 article “A Buckeye Trail; So Far it is Just an Idea” written by ODNR’s Merrill Gilfillan. Awardees do not accept the status quo of the trail we love today, they understand that agencies play an important role in the development, maintenance, protection and promotion of Ohio’s State Trail.

Merrill Gilfillan was an ODNR employee who authored the original 1958 article “The Buckeye Trail; So Far it is Just an Idea” under the pen name Perry Cole. Gilfillan shared his vision of Ohio having its own Appalachian Trail-like experience connecting Lake Erie to the Ohio River through Ohio’s Appalachian Hill Country. Gilfillan was active with the BTA in the early years to see his vision become a reality and then gain momentum to evolve into the nation’s longest loop trail.

Past Recipients

2024 Mark Bennett, City of Akron Water Protection, Matt McDue, Georgia Park District
2023 Muskingum Watershed Conservation District, Dawn McCarthy
2022 VK Maintenance, Cuyahoga Valley National Park, Mary Mertz
2021 The Wayne National Forest - Marietta Unit
2020 Cleveland Metroparks
2019 Tom Arbour - ODNR