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Hill is in his element outdoors — either while constructing trails or cycling about 80 miles a week with buddies on rough terrain or bike paths in Green Valley and the ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ area.

The longtime volunteer was recognized recently with the Chuck Catino Community Leadership Award from Pima County Natural Resources, Parks & Recreation.

“It is an honor to receive this award,� said Hill, mentioning Catino, who helped establish a park and softball fields in Green Valley.

Hill is a member of the Southern ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ Mountain Bike Association, serving as secretary and webmaster for the group. Hill also volunteers with other cyclists to build and maintain trails in the ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ area, including the Starr Pass Mountain Bike Trails and at McKenzie Ranch Trails Park, which features more than 13 miles of trails southeast of ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥.

Hill wipes sweat off his face while working the land with specialized firefighting tools used for trail building. He digs into and clears the land of boulders and moves dirt, and sometimes a heavy equipment machine that resembles a small bulldozer is used.

“I enjoy being outdoors biking and building trails. It is good exercise, and I like working and going on rides with friends,� explained Hill, a native of Port Huron, Michigan. He grew up in Cleveland and has degrees in electrical engineering and computer science, retiring from a communications company in Naperville, Illinois, in 1994.

Hill and his wife, Connie, in 2004 bought a house in Green Valley, where they live a portion of the year. The couple has been married for nearly 60 years and has three children and five grandchildren.

“We help the community when we are building trails for people to use, and there is a lot of camaraderie among our group of volunteers,� said Hill in a telephone interview while spending the summer near Eagle River in northern Wisconsin.

“Whether he is volunteering for the Green Valley Fire Corps, working on bike trails, leading community safety grants or championing the Ride of Silence in hopes of improving bicycle safety awareness, Chuck is an ‘energizer bunny’ who simply wants to make people and the community around him better,� wrote Chuck Wunder, fire chief of the Green Valley Fire District in support of Hill’s nomination for the award.

When not volunteering to beautify and build pathways for the county’s parks and recreation, Hill can be found giving back to his community through his activism, such as:

•  Installing new batteries in fire alarms or replacing alarms at people’s homes, removing snakes from yards or taking official photographs at events for the Green Valley Fire District as a member of the volunteer fire corps.
•  Organizing the annual Green Valley Ride of Silence — part of an international event — that takes place each May to honor those killed or injured while cycling on public roads. This was the 14th year with nearly 120 riders from Southern ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ communities. He also is the ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ coordinator for the event that ,in addition to Green Valley, takes place in ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥, Prescott, Tempe, Cottonwood and Sedona.
•  As a driving force in an initiative to provide cyclists with jerseys to identify them as riders of the Santa Cruz Valley, Hill designed a jersey and worked with the manufacturer. Some 200 riders in the valley wear the jerseys when cycling.
•  The Green Valley Recreation Camera Club member volunteers several times a month to advise those who need help making prints from a digital file, learns computer photo skills and techniques in the light room and organizes events in which members show their work on slide-show presentations. Hill, an advanced amateur photographer, is self-taught.

Hill, who served as a volunteer fire chief for the Hiles Fire Department North Station in Tree Lakes, Wisconsin, and now volunteers as a firefighter and emergency medical responder in the summer months, said of all his volunteerism he favors his work with the Green Valley Fire Corps.

The installation of new smoke alarms in homes and the replacement of batteries save lives, he said.

“Most fatalities from fires occur in homes where there are either no smoke alarms, or the smoke alarms no longer work. Having working smoke alarms is probably the best thing you can do to protect yourself and your family,� emphasizes Hill.