Dewayne Buratti, Founder & Trail Specialist

Dewayne's first taste of trail building came in 1997 at the International Mountain Bicycling Association's (IMBA) first land manager and trail building summit in Nantahala, NC. One cold November Saturday that year Dewayne and his brother, James, learned about bench cutting, back sloping, and even building switchbacks while starting the construction of the Flint Ridge Trail. After realizing what it took to make a trail, Dewayne started volunteering as a trail steward and also led many REI Community Service Project workdays.

In 2003, he attended one of IMBA's Trail Guru Gatherings at DuPont State Forest in North Carolina. After meeting many professional trail builders, watching them in action, and learning a bit more from them, he was convinced that he had enough experience, passion, and knowledge to start his own trail building company.

In September of 2004 he started the sole proprietorship of Talon Trail Systems. His first two years in business were part time trail building. In the spring of 2006, he decided to make it a full time job. In October of 2006 Ryan Spates and Susan Stormer, formerly of the Bike Texas Trail Doctors, joined Dewyane as business partners, and they elevated the company to the next level by forming a Limited Liability Company partnership.