How should I get involved?

Mumonkan

Mumonkan

Well-Known Member
So im hearing things from reliable sources about the hiking trails that we all poach here are actually soon to be officially legalized. no biking signs have been removed, and my interactions with park rangers have all been pleasant (moreso than dogwalkers even). They will be looking to form an actual organization to "go legit".

i can dig and saw and weedwhack my ass off, and ive blossomed into a bit of a social butterfly that somehow has networking skills. at the same time, I'm not the kindof guy that would put on a suit and sit down with councilmen, and i doubt they would take me seriously if i did. i look like a wild animal that just wants to go redbull rampage on top of puppies while shotgunning cans of four loko.

At the same time i really feel like i want to help build this from the ground up, i hate everything about this place except for the trails. i would love to be involved in creating something amazing that i could be proud of. it could be really nice if it was officially taken care of by MTBers, since most of the TM is done by my main ride group and the other bikers we know anyway. ive only seen an actual parks employee maintaining anything exactly once out there.

To those of you who are involved in trail orgs like JORBA, what kindof action and organization is involved in something like this?
 
You can see this very effort coming into action with PMTB (Palisadesmtb) which is the newest Jorba chapter. It's all about getting the right people involved and making your promises to land managers happen.
 
Yeah, what's popping up here with PMTB is awesome.

Is there a local Jorba chapter you could align yourself with? If so, start there.
Maybe you and the current bike crew could be deputized as the local crew for that park. Paging @KenS

But as we're seeing with PMTB, when there's no legal trails, you kinda have to start from scratch, because there's no local chapter. Because there's no legal trails. Bit of a catch-22.
 
i thought that would be the obvious answer, but the only official trail we have at wolfes pond park is trash, and noone maintains it despite NYCMTB/IMBA being part of it.

so im thinking to start something else where i know at least a dozen people who already give a crap and take care of the trails
 
Ah, oops, NYC. Yeah, try reaching out to NYCMTB or CLIMB- I think they are the JORBA of the 5 boros.
 
They may have leads on how to start or who to talk to. Just let them know you have a group in place to do TM. I'll give you a hand with TM if the bridge ever opens
 
Are Wolfes near these other trails, close to where you live? Why not start there and get involved with an established group with a goal of making these others legit.
 
Try DM @7sugarssweet and @dingerdal on IG. They are involved with NYCMTB. While you are at it try @nycmtb as well although I think a bunch of them have access to that account.

If Wolfes Pond is in the state that you say that it is in, it's very possible they could use a rep for that park or Staten Island in general. Once you get in there and start doing good work, it may open doors to other areas. Be prepared to wait a long time for something like that to happen though.

I'm pretty sure I've seen other long bearded mountain men sit down with councilmen.
 
it takes many kinds of people to get this stuff done. if already established at the park, a 'here is what we are doing, make sure it is ok'
from the diggers to the suits, can turn into, ' there is a trail restoration effort in a damaged area, that has forced traffic
into an unpopular bottleneck, they are going to attempt to finish it up in two days, but it is a huge effort. no public resources are required' show map, and how flow will improve for all.
schedule to talk at their next function on how the official is improving the outdoor experience for their constituency. win the day.
 
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