This book offers guidance on the planning, design, and construction process, using proven principles and techniques, to create a great OHV trail on the ground. But it goes beyond that. Creating a great OHV trail is one thing, but keeping it great for the long term is another. How can the trail be managed and maintained to preserve that special quality? What can be done with an existing trail to make it the best that it can be?
The process of creating great OHV trails starts with an understanding of the fundamental principles of OHV management. These principles need to be carried through planning, design, implementation, maintenance, and program management and they apply to existing trails and new trails.
Creating a sustainable trail or trail system is very similar to building a house—it takes a vision, a good plan, constructing a solid foundation, sound construction practices, and then proper maintenance to protect the structure’s integrity. If the proper time and effort is not spent in each one of these steps, the entire project could be jeopardized.
Up to this point, the only visual concept of the project may have been a project area boundary displayed on a map or perhaps a boundary with a bubble-diagram of potential facilities or opportunities. The trail concept plan will be the first tangible document that displays what the vision could look like on the ground.
Providing for the rider’s needs is one of the key elements for success discussed in Chapter 1. Those needs were examined in Chapter 2 and incorporated into the trail concept plan in Chapter 3. The link between getting those needs on the ground and designing for sustainability is covered in this chapter on engineering.
The most important and gratifying part of creating great trails occurs in the field. The field is where the creative juices can flow; where there are options, challenges, and opportunities; and where all the pieces of the puzzle come together. To make effective use of the time in the field, team members need to arm themselves with tools and techniques and have as much knowledge of the area as possible.
There are times when trails must go through wet areas or soft soils, and there are times it is desirable to have them there to enhance the scenic quality, variety, and rider experience. There are times when no matter how good the soil is, it can’t withstand the vehicle volume of use or weight. There are also places where the approaches need to be enhanced to ensure smooth transitions. All of these scenarios require some type of tread reinforcement.
A large part of the success in the engineering of a trail system is to know what to do in a particular situation. Certainly with a new trail location or the relocation of an existing trail, the first option is to avoid potential issues. However, there are a multitude of structures available that can help mitigate almost any circumstance.
To develop an effective O&M program, amassing materials, supplies, tools, vehicles, and equipment is a must. For the program managers, equipment poses a multitude of questions with not-so-easy answers, including what needs to be bought and when?; how will it be paid for?; where will it be stored; how will it be moved around?; and who will operate, maintain, and repair it?
The foundation of this book is the effective application of the 4Es; and the basic premise of the second “E,” Education, is that educated riders are responsible riders. Most agencies don’t have the personnel or funding to have staff in the field when the riders are recreating, but it is essential that management communicate with the riders and that the riders understand that communication.
This chapter covers general strategies and tools available to managers. Like the great trail continuum, management has its own sub-continuum: implement, evaluate, make changes, re-evaluate. It never stops. If it does stop, management could fail, the project could fail, and the riders could lose another place to ride.
Planners, designers, and managers must keep the 4Es of engineering, education, enforcement, and evaluation in the forefront of their mind in their work to create great trails. If riders find what they want on the trail, they won’t look for it off the trail.
The fourth E in the all-important 4Es is Evaluation, which is an assessment, appraisal, or review. If managers don’t know the current conditions, they won’t know how to plan, act, or react.
“Wow! That was fun!” What sets one trail apart from all the other trails and makes riders say this at the end of the day? Was it the setting and the landscape, the challenge, the recreation experience, or something else? Something about that trail evoked feelings and emotions. Managers must find the elements that made those riders say “WOW!”
The key to a great trail is in the location of the trail and in the arrangement of certain physical features that can stimulate powerful perceptions and feelings. Indeed, the landscape is like a giant trail jigsaw puzzle. The pieces are out there, but where? And how do they get arranged? Is there more than one way to solve the puzzle and if so, which is the best way?
Like any other modality, an integral part of trail riding is challenge: riders constantly push themselves to determine how good they are. Challenging trails or features can provide a boost of fun, excitement, extended seat time, camaraderie, and self-confidence. These experiences are desirable and when trail planners provide them, they are definitely providing for the riders’ needs.
All trails start at a trailhead or other facility. Those facilities may be the first and only opportunity for the agency to interact or communicate with the riders; therefore, they serve as a welcome center for the customers. As such, they play a key role in OHV management and rider experience.
A plan and a design have been created with care. With construction, the vision becomes a reality. For the designers, after days, weeks, or months of scouting and flagging, there is nothing more gratifying than seeing the flagline become a trail and to finally ride it. Construction is an anticipated time and one of excitement.
Constructing an OHV project often involves natural surface roads. Almost every OHV trail project includes these roads to some degree, whether it’s using natural surface roads as trails or converting abandoned roads to trails. There are benefits and risks to both, but often it is easier from an environmental analysis standpoint to re-purpose an existing impact rather than create a new one.
What keeps a great trail great? The answer is effective management and maintenance. Management and maintenance are not the night crew who has to clean up and fix errors made along the way; they are part of the team working as one to produce a great trail. Successful long-term management and maintenance have to be not only a consideration, but a driver in trail and program planning, design, and implementation.