@GJ11
You're welcome. I'm not as savvy at multi-thread quotes, so let me answer your questions old-school style:
1) Re: Trail Proposal and Meeting Minutes. Unfortunately I do not attend said meetings. While I’d love to and do think they are important, my work, family and business travel schedule barely leaves me enough time to organize and host trail dates, let alone get a ride in once a week. So I focus on the core of our volunteer crew’s mission: Building and remediating trails. As a result, I make my proposals directly with MCPC’s Trail Foreman. He, in turn, coordinates with the Naturalist and any other required parties to get the approval. Once he gives me the green light, we go to work.
2) Re: The condition that the old trail be closed, this is standard practice when proposing a trail re-route. The MCPC’s current trail system at Lew Mo was based on a master plan from about 2002 which called for a layout with about 7 miles of trail (don’t quote me on that). To achieve this, when new, more sustainable trails were built, several old trails were closed down to keep to the master plan’s original goals (you can see remnants of them here and there especially in the winter when leaf cover is gone). That said, I personally think the acreage at Lew Mo is sufficient to host net new trails. As a result, and as per my prior post, I am working up a proposal for a brand new trail. Achieving this won’t be easy, but it starts by demonstrating renewed commitment to the Lew Mo volunteer effort (we took a hiatus in 2013 to 2014 as the three qualified trail crew leaders (myself being one of them) had too much going on personally and professionally to dedicate time). We demonstrate that commitment by:
a) re-establishing the volunteer base (this has taken time but thanks to a small core of long standing vounteers and
@jumpa 's infectious ability to reel in brand new volunteers and show them the ropes, we are in really good shape now)
b) focusing on remedial work first
3) Re: Intention to close trails. Technically yes, but realistically some of the bad sections are a lot of work to remediate by hand, so they’ll be around for a while. My strategy is to focus on a) the re-routes that can be accomplished with modest effort and b) start introducing new trails. Again, all this requires approvals that are not always a guarantee.
Note that with every re-route, we aim to at least double the length of the trail we’re replacing, so net-net the trail system grows organically. The new trail section we built is roughly 3 times longer than the old one. It’s also twistier.
One a related note, when it comes to the trail layout, it's always a team effort. I flag out the proposed route with tape and pins. When we get to the work site, I ask the volunteers to imagine riding sections of the trail and to make recommendations on how it could be tweaked. Some of the twists and turns in the new trail section at Lew Mo were the direct result of on-site input from the volunteers. Same is true of the twisty section we put in on orange a few years ago. I flagged the original design, but the sizeable crew that showed up on work day had a lot of good ideas we incorporated into the end result. All the more incentive for volunteers to show up....you get to have some say in the trail.
4) Re; Next trail date. No worries, I hear you. I’m a Dad too. Much of the schedule of TM dates depends on my own schedule since up until recently I’ve been the only one authorized by the MCPC to lead the volunteer crew. My two other leaders are no longer on the crew due to family obligations, which I agree is far more important than any trail. However, thanks again to
@jumpa, he has raised his hand to help me lead the volunteer crew so I am working on getting him officially designated by MCPC. What this means is we may be able to squeeze more trail dates in in any given year and thus get more work done.
5) Re Lawsuits: AMEN brother. I can’t stand it when people don’t take responsibilities for their own actions and feel the need to blame others for their own misfortune. Among the unfortunate results is that the rest of us are impacted by the actions of these few. Entire parks are off limits, or certain trails closed, or no features allowed, etc, all because the landowner (understandably) has to protect itself from financial harm. This same risk exists with rogue trails. Right or wrong, landowners still expect a form of self-policing from the MTB community. If someone builds an illegal jump (which can only be by mountain bikers, unless you count the 2 people in the state that ride mountain boards lol), and then someone gets injured on said jump, all eyes are on MTB'ers..even those that had nothing to do with said rogue features. Most illegal trails too are built by MTB'ers...the giveaway is the trail features they incorporate into said trail...features no horse or hiker would really seek...this hurts us too. It's one step forward, 2 steps back every time.
It’s different, however, when money is involved in the recreation. Take snowboarding for example: I started snowboarding when very few resorts allowed it (due to liability and insurance concerns) and those that did required you to get certified (for a fee no less) before buying a lift ticket. Once the sport caught on and resorts realized that mega $$$$ in revenues were up for grabs, resorts started opening up to boarders everywhere (well, except for the holdouts like Alta, Mad River, etc). Unfortunately, unless you’re talking about bike parks like Whistler, mountain biking is essentially revenue-less for the park systems, so there is nothing to offset the risk of financial loss from lawsuits, legal defense, etc. Preaching to the choir I’m sure, so I’ll stop there.
Let me know if I can answer any more questions.
