The Jim Mudgett Trail Pioneer Award was created to honor and pay tribute to individuals who have shown leadership and passion for our local trails. The award is given annually at TART's Oktoberfest dinner party.

Two recipients were awarded the Jim Mudgett Trail Pioneer Award at TART's annual Oktoberfest celebration at the City Opera House on October 12, 2011, local attorney Peter Doren and photographer John Robert Williams. Both Doren and Williams have been involved with TART Trails, or its predecessor Citizens for a Better Way, for more than twenty years. Doren was instrumental in writing the original Rotary Charities grant that launched the local trail network, which now has over sixty miles of trail. Williams helped secure additional funding to get the urban TART Trail completed and provided leadership when four trail organizations - Leelanau Trail, Vasa Pathway, Citizens for a Better Way and Boardman Lake Trail all came together to form TART Trails. Williams explained the lasting results of their work, "Today, everywhere a TART Trail has been developed, the quality of life of the area near it has increased, property values have gone up, areas near the trail have been cleaned up or reclaimed and more people are getting quiet, healthy, unstructured exercise and commuting."