Thomas Baumgardner was the recipient of this year’s Butler Outdoor Club Outstanding Service Award, an honor that recognizes individuals (BOC members or non-members) whose service efforts have contributed to the bettering of the community by creating opportunities for outdoor recreation and the enjoyment of nature.

Tom works diligently to improve and preserve the North Country Trail, from assisting with labor-intensive re-routes to collecting GPS coordinates with the goal of obtaining precise mapping coordinates for the entire PA section of the trail.

Tom views the North Country Trail as a means of linking places together and linking people with the outdoors, and he believes things will only get better as the trail grows more connected.