Here’s one way to eliminate trail ruts. There is a trail through the county forest near me that had become severely rutted. In low spots, water had collected, creating some good sized mud holes.

I hadn’t ridden it for awhile, but last weekend I was surprised to find that it has been turned into what looks more like a gravel road! It even has culverts where some of the mud holes had been. There isn’t a rut to be seen, and the trail has been widened. Some trees were cut to accomplish this, and stumps with bare root systems attached are off to the sides of the trail. A large trackhoe, which had apparently dug up the stumps, was parked along the newly revamped trail, which now appears wide enough for the county’s road grader to maintain.

The trail is used by snowmobiles in the winter, and I heard that last winter the snowmobile club’s groomer had broken through the ice on one of the bigger mud puddles. They had a heck of a time getting it out, and I guess the ruts were also causing problems. I was told that the club got a $100,000 grant to fix trails, and what I saw last weekend was one result. The trail can now be graded as needed during the summer to smooth out any ruts.

What I’m seeing, I suspect, is the future for ATV trails everywhere. At least it eliminates ruts and erosion as problems ATV haters can point to as reasons for closing trails.

 

no problem for the snowmobilers to get money for trails.Wonder if there is any for atv`s.I know in my area they just turn there backs when we look for trail systems to ride.But always there to collect the taxes and registration money when we buy.Plus the gst & pst when we stop to eat and get fuel if we can get there without being stopped by the RCMP.then they also get to collect on the fine.Whereas the snowmobilers get trails and gov`t money to ride for two months.But I guess they drink more beer and rum so I guess the gov`t gets alot back there.Well with that out of my system have a good day.












rc[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]isgust

 

Yes, there are literally millions available.. but nobody is asking for it. I can't speak for Canada though...

This is a good example of what CAN be done, and an excellent source of information on trailbuilding can be found online at <FONT color=#008000>www.<B>america</B>n<B>trails</B>.org. A quick check this morning indicated they had info on trail funding as their number one Info link.

Deeplaker, I know this is one of your pet projects. What many do not know, is that you volunteer a lot of your time to projects like this. Kudos for the trail work you discovered, and many Kudos to you for your hard work as well. You might not hear it very often, but I for one would like to give you my thanks and hopefully shake your hand for a job well done.</FONT>

 

Thanks DB. I don't do all that much, but I do what I can. I wasn't involved in this one. It caught me by surprise. The snowmobile club had in role in getting the grant, which came from snowmobile (and probably ATV) registrations. The money is administered through the county forestry department.

It certainly looks like there is money available for trail construction and improvements. I guess its just a matter of becoming familiar with the grant process and writing a proposal. Local governmental entities usually have people who know how to do this.

Last night at our town board meeting, I learned that some of grant money in our country will go for establishing horse trails on county forest land. A saddle club pushed for this. They will be getting interconnecting trails where they can ride all day with primitive campgrounds at the end of each leg. I would imagine that snowmobilers and ATV'ers will also get to use these trails. Sections of them already follow existing ATV/snowmobile trails.

I'm wondering if the saddle club members will have to buy a trail sticker for each horse that goes on those trails? I think I'll ask this at the public hearing that's coming up.

 

One can only ponder where they would put the sticker... Wink Wink...

You might work up a proposal for trail maint equipment. I was on a GA website this morning where they have asked for and received funds to purchase two enclosed trailers to support their work day activities. Things like the mini graders and center dumps we spoke about a while back, and hand tools like chain saws, raw materials etc are all perfectly acceptable. They even got funding for a gas grill to feed the volunteers with on work days.... You never know unless you ask.

Good luck

 

http://www.trailbuilders.org/suppliers.html

The equipment is out there; and there are folks right now ready and willing to 'drag' our managers and the trails systems they oversee into the 21st century.....yet the cooperation needed between these user groups (who would <u>benefit</u> "job-being-done-wise" from this privatized work) is (largely) not there. This illustrates the huge difference between what a club says is their mission statment and how a solution uncovers their (sometimes) alterior motives.
The light four-wheeled enthusiast is (arguably) the most easy guy/gal to get along with on this planet...yet you have two wheeled and sled enthusiasts on the other side of these issues who desire either (#1) any year-round work be done exclusively by their group to <u>control</u> as much finite funding as possible...or #2) they fear that the inevitability of privatized modern maintnenance equipmentt would largely eliminate their maintenance funding all together.(which is hugely ironic; as they have been the ones to effectively divide this community up in the first place).

Privitization has <u>always</u> been the answer to getting these groups to work together <u>and always will be</u>.......with the problem being that there aren't enough people in the orv community who have the stones to say so or be <u>proud</u> of standing up for what is right and fair. As soon as you get <u>everybody</u> cleaning up behind these machines together....so that your contracted workers never have to get off of them (which cuts your trail maintenance costs down to the actual/predictable machinery/man hours needed) you finally create a sustainable legacy that can be passed down to the next generation (and if they can't herd the needed number of volunteers to follow behind these machines?....the system is at the very least in place and they simply pay more for these contracted workers to do the job themselves....MUCH more).

The solution is no simpler than that....the stickler being that you (again) have to come up with somebody having the kahunas to tell these formerly 'independant' groups that they either lead, follow <u>or get out of the way</u> (we've got a legacy to build).

 

Which I think Deeplaker is trying to do. I know of his volunteer exploits. He is too modest to blow his own horn, but he is out there working.. and trying to get others to do the same. We even did a little research on equipment and maintenence methods a while ago... so I know there is activity.

Sure there is a lot of apathy out there... it is to be expected. But there is activity... and if you look hard enough, you can find these little lights glowing.

Here is where group activities can pay off, as it lends a lot more legitimacy to the efforts. When the Government hands out cash, they want to see a committment that the work is going to get completed. Which the clubs provide.

I am sorry to hear that things do not go the same way in MI. It sounds like there is a lot of mistrust and animosity between the different groups... but I think they are all starting to recognise that they are in this together, and joining forces is in everyone's best interest.

I welcome efforts such as Deeplaker's and his band of merry men (and women)... I for one am not going to offer one negative word about their efforts, and hope they continue. Maybe some of this will rub off on some of the many ATV'rs that just rode past the work crews as they labored away repairing the same trails the enthusiasts were enjoying.... Either way, we can't just stop doing something... That would be admitting defeat.

 

I just learned that a company that is logging the area fixed the trails. That was part of the timber sale. Since the company had to move its equipment into there anyway, and it needed to have improved trails for its logging trucks, this made sense. I suspect that grant money may have been needed to cover at least the gravel fill that was trucked in.

I can see where this type of arrangement would work in a lot of places.

 

Forward cooperative thinking at work. Let's hope that spirit if cooperation can continue to bear fruit...

Did you do anything more work on your "proposal"?

 

[quote]
Originally posted by: Dragginbutt
"...Which I think Deeplaker is trying to do. I know of his volunteer exploits. He is too modest to blow his own horn, but he is out there working.. and trying to get others to do the same...."

Are you working with Randy Harden of the WATVA, Deeplaker? I have an old magazine cover which touts this organization as possibly the best in the country and know the man to be pretty easy to talk to.

"...Sure there is a lot of apathy out there... it is to be expected....."

My problem isn't the expected apathy itself or the <u>amount</u> of it DB...rather the fact that these conversations can't even BEGIN to get started if they so much as involve any of the very people or internal subject matter out there causing many of our problems <U>in the first place</U>.

"....But there is activity... and if you look hard enough, you can find these little lights glowing. Here is where group activities can pay off, as it lends a lot more legitimacy to the efforts....."

I understand the 'concept', DB...but if DeepLaker is working with the largest organization in the state on these issues and the two of them are setting the world on fire TOGETHER with their efforts in Wisconsin...should I really have to "look hard" for those little lights....or should I be able, in this year of our lord 2005, to hear both of them shouting about this alliance clear across the lake here in Michigan?
I know Mr. Harden has reached his hand across these waters many times (and I'm not saying that DL should be in this position) with tales of success and blueprints for same....only to be rebuffed over the exact same concept I alluded to earlier....each one of these damn clubs want to be the big dog on the porch and effectively scare away those who simply want to partner with somebody who rejects that same notion (there's no profit in non-profit and nobody gives a damn what 'machine' you brought to the party).

".....When the Government hands out cash, they want to see a committment that the work is going to get completed. Which the clubs provide.I am sorry to hear that things do not go the same way in MI. It sounds like there is a lot of mistrust and animosity between the different groups...."

I'm sorry, DB;;;but if you are comparing this commitment to a private contractor bound legally to perform a servive and not just lose next year's grant money....I have to disagree.

"....but I think they are all starting to recognise that they are in this together, and joining forces is in everyone's best interest.I welcome efforts such as Deeplaker's and his band of merry men (and women)... I for one am not going to offer one negative word about their efforts, and hope they continue....."

This is where I get a little sensitive, DB; [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]....as I get the feeling that somebody like myself who could care less that names are named and that a true man should ultimately be held responsible for the fraud/crap he even 'attempts' to pull on this community....is not very 'welcome' on these forums. The second anybody so much as mentions the AMA or the NOHVC here in Michigan (and many times up here) as being able to do one heck of a lot better job than they have done in this community to date? You would have thought that you had just blasphemed God himself!
Sure, we have big problems here in Michigan...and I darn well think that the rest of this country can <u>learn</u> one heck of a lesson from what befalls the largest trail system this country on a daily basis (just as we learn from the WATVA's success stories also).

My point here is that if these stories (good and bad) don't get told and in the <u>strongest</u> of terms....or folks like myself see absolutely no one on the horizon around them willing to stand up to what happens behind closed doors each and every day <u>(***and do so intelligently, so that your association with said people is a source of pride***</u>)....the folks causing problems in this sport have absolutely nothing to fear and will do business as usual.
I'd much rather fight the guys outside than in also...yet as Randy once told me; those issues can be just as important and sometimes even more potentially damaging to your overall efforts. (which begs my philosophy of having two guys beside you who you know where they stand; rather than 100 who just signed up for the group ride and want the ride t-shirt).

By the way, we will probably be doing our 'event trail' gatherings on forestry property about to be logged off anyways, here in Michigan....creating an opportunity to not only ride what will be gone forever; but possibly creating some kind of input as to what is left (I say this as the proposal that it is...you still have to know the secret handshake and swear on your life that you will keep all orv business SECRET if involved in any club wishing to pursue these kind of projects). [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif[/img]

Again, you can't expect any community to get "involved"....if the leaders they initially come into contact with don't allow the community to get involved.