Erick Hetzel is a State Park Trails Coordinator at the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. In addition to helping coordinate the agency’s Recreational Trails Grant Program, he manages the design and construction of federally-funded Recreational Trail Program (RTP) projects in State Parks. Erick grew up in southeast Massachusetts before moving to Florida to pursue a degree in political science from the University of Florida. Erick moved to Texas in 2007 to join the Texas Conservation Corps (TxCC) program at American YouthWorks, an Austin nonprofit. After a year and a half of national service as an Americorps member, he was hired to run TxCC’s Trails Across Texas trail crew, a program that provides an annual trail crew to Texas State Parks using RTP funds. He has over fifteen years of experience in trail design and construction. In his free time Erick can be found exploring Texas roads and trails on two wheels, gardening, or spending time with his wife Kayte, and their two cats, Peanut and Gaucho.