Who We Are

Trail Director

Alexa Shapiro

Alexa Shapiro has worked in outdoor recreation and conservation since 2014, beginning her career with hands-on fieldwork through AmeriCorps NCCC, where she built trails, supported restoration projects, and served in wildland firefighting and emergency medical roles. She went on to coordinate volunteers for Duluth Parks & Recreation before managing a 180-acre camp property in Winona, MN, where she led land restoration efforts and expanded recreation opportunities.

Alexa is the founder of a nonprofit dedicated to strengthening the outdoor community in Winona and has also contributed to dialogue-based nonprofit work aimed at bridging political, cultural, and religious divides. An avid outdoorswoman, she has logged over 3,000 trail miles, including thru-hikes of the Pacific Crest and Superior Hiking Trails. She holds a Master’s degree in Recreation Management from UW-La Crosse and is a certified forest bathing guide and wilderness first responder. 

Board of Directors

  • Aaron Klemz

    Fridley, MN

  • Chelsi Low

    Elba, MN

  • Colleen Foehrenbacher

    Lanesboro, MN

  • Jake Rajewski

    Mason City, IA

  • Mark Van Der Linden

    Decorah, IA

  • Marty Walsh

    Rochester, MN

  • Jim Mason

    Choice, MN

  • Heather Vinge Hanson

    Rochester, MN

  • Andy Petzold

    Rochester, MN

  • Peggy Kreutzman

    Houston, MN

Executive Committee

The Executive Committee rotates annually by election, with committee members serving from January 1 - December 31 each year. The 2025 Executive Committee members include Marty Walsh, Board Chair; Jim Mason, Board Vice Chair; Heather Vinge Hanson, Treasurer; and Andy Petzold, Secretary.

Marty is the founding organizer of the effort to build the Minnesota Driftless Hiking Trail. He is the Economic Development & Key Accounts Manager for People's Energy Cooperative, a rural electric cooperative serving southeast Minnesota.

Jim recently retired from CHS. Jim directed many running races in the Rochester area including the Chester Woods trail races. He lives in the heart of the MDHT corridor in Choice, where he hikes somewhere in the driftless almost daily.

Heather is a Clinical Operations Program Manager at Mayo Clinic. Prior, her professional career focused on non-profit development, fundraising, and advocacy. In the next few years, she is looking forward to becoming a Master Naturalist and Master Gardener.

Andy's passion for hiking stems from a deep curiosity about the natural world, driving him to explore trails and discover the incredible biological diversity flourishing all around us. It's a way to deeply connect with the natural world and learn about the amazing biological diversity that thrives around us. Professionally, Andy is a professor at the University of Minnesota Rochester where he teaches physiology and other related biology courses.

Founding Director

Marty Walsh

Marty Walsh is the founding organizer of the effort to build the Minnesota Driftless Hiking Trail. An avid outdoor enthusiast, Marty lives in Rochester, Minnesota with his wife, Sophia, and daughter. He is the Economic Development & Key Accounts Manager for People's Energy Cooperative, a rural electric cooperative serving southeast Minnesota.

Marty's work on the MDHT grew out of his work as the Economic Development Director for Fillmore County while studying the impact of outdoor recreation on the region and hearing of interest in hiking trails while knowing there were none in development. After moving to the Cooperative world, Marty took the Cooperative Principal of "Concern for Community" to heart and began working on trail development as a personal project. With the help of dozens of partners from across the trail corridor and around the Upper Midwest, Marty's initial ideas have evolved into the trail project we know today.

A native of Chicago, Marty's early exposure to the outdoors was through the Cook County Forest Preserves and camping trips around the southern Great Lakes and northern Illinois region. He came to appreciate the hidden beauty of the Midwest outdoors, a sentiment he holds strong today. Marty attended St. John's University and the College of St Benedict in Collegeville, MN. Here he was exposed to the North Woods and to long distance hiking with trips to the Superior Hiking Trail on Lake Superior's North Shore, and to the Driftless Area with his now wife, a native of Chatfield at the western end of the MDHT planning corridor.

Marty's backpacking experience includes not just the Superior Hiking Trail, but also trips on the Ice Age Trail (WI), Ozark Trail (MO), Centennial Trail (SD), and around many state and local parks across the Midwest. [NEW PARAGRAPH] He is also active in the Curling Club of Rochester, South YEL Fencing Alliance, and is the President of the Board of Cooperative Development Services, Inc., a non-profit that works to strengthen Cooperatives and the Cooperative Movement in the Upper Midwest.

Call for Board Members

Are you a trail supporter near the trail corridor interested in stepping up to a new level of trail support? We're always trying to ensure we have representational leadership on our board. If you're interested in supporting the long term development of MDHT by serving on our board now or in the future, please reach out!