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Volunteer Hours: 2010
National Hours: 315,442
Local Hours: 1,743

5% Discount for BCHET Members
5% Donated to BCHET when Mentioned

The Back Country Horsemen of East Tennessee is a non-profit corporation working to preserve the historical use of recreational livestock on public lands, with emphasis on volunteerism and conservation education.

Primarily a service organization, working with the United States Forest Service to enhance the trail riding opportunities in the Cherokee National Forest, from the Great Smokey Mountains to Virginia. This is done by providing suggestions for possible trails and by assisting with the physical work of clearing, digging. and maintaining trails.

In 2002, the "Back Country Horsemen of East Tennessee" (BCHET) became the first affiliate in Tennessee with the "Back Country Horsemen of America" (BCHA).The Back Country Horsemen of America is national organization established in 1973.

The original members noticed in 2000, that the number of trails in the Cherokee National Forest were insufficient to meet the ever increasing pressure from trail users of all disciplines. Existing trails had serious problems; no parking, no connection between trails, poor or no maintenance, no signage.

     

At the recommendation of the National Forest Service the original members formed a horse "club" to assist the forest service to clean out the horse trails, create trail heads for parking horse trailers, reestablish old trails, create new trails, and link trails into loops as the forest service could no longer keep up with all these recreational demands.

We chose to join with "Back Country Horsemen of America" because of our close alignment in philosophy, including the principals of responsible access, volunteerism and education." Over the past eight years, working closely with the Cherokee National Forest Service, Back Country Horsemen of East Tennessee has made a difference.