Volunteerism works but it takes dedicated people to begin and to get the effort started. The Appalachian Mountain Club here in New England maintains hundreds of miles to trails as does the Dartmouth Outing Club and the Green Mountain Club and some smaller clubs. Heavy rock work needed for maintenance is performed by paid summer crews. Much maintenance such as brush cutting, cleaning out water bars and cutting up downed trees is done by volunteers. I have spent weekends on trail work on the Appalachian Trail in Connecticut and New Hampshire. The 2100 miles of this long distance trail is maintained in this way.

Locally, I've seen volunteers working at the local state park, along Narragansett Bay, picking up trash washed up at high tide. It takes some organizational skill or sheer determination to get these efforts going but oh so worth it. The paving is out of our hands but we certainly can pick up trash. Maybe if authorities see that people care about these things, they will care.