I don't know how you guys do trail maintenance, but my years of volunteering with the Red River Gorge Trail Crew (http://rrgtc.com/) , I can't think of a single time that tape was used. If standing trees are to be taken down, they are marked with yellow paint on the trunk; if a section is to be rerouted, the US Forest Ranger for that distric knows where it is and takes us to it; if a section is to be 'maintained' (cutting back brush, clearing dead-falls and blow-downs), we are always told where to begin and end on maps. The only time that I can think of seeing tape was when it was used by a group doing a trail run (their version of white blazes since many trails in the Boone National Forest aren't uniquely marked) and we had to cut it off the branches and haul out the bits of tape. But maybe things are done differently in the trail maintenance groups you're with.