Army Corps of Engineers Hosts New England Trail Builders School
By Philip Keyes, NEMBA
 Oxford MA |
|---|
Oxford MA, May 21-22: Mountain bikers and trail builders from every state in New England descended upon the Army Corps of Engineer's Hodges Village Dam in Oxford, Massachusetts for an intensive work hard / play hard weekend course on trail building and maintenance. Joining in the instruction were recent Mountain Bike Hall of Famer, Kurt Loheit, from southern California, the Subaru/IMBA Trail Care Crew from Portland, Oregon, Jill Van Winkle and Chris Bernhard, and NEMBA's trail experts, Tom Grimble, Paul Peaslee and Mike Tabaczynski.
Hodges Village Dam was the good "laboratory" for applying the latest science of trail design and maintenance because it is multi-use facility enjoyed extensively by motorcyclists, equestrians, trail runners, hikers and cyclists. While almost all the trails need rehabilitation, the New England Trail Builders School focused on three sites so that we could teach the critical aspects of trail design and maintenance. The Army Corps facility was also chosen because of NEMBA's participation in a USACE conference where we outlined the type of partnerships we offered to land management agencies. The Corps was a gracious host, and Park Ranger Jamie Kordack, Timothy Russell and her staff went beyond the call of duty to make everyone feel welcome and at home.
Beyond an exceptional classroom presentation by IMBA's Trail Care Crew, trail builders chose one of three clinics each day to focus on the different construction techniques, such as building Technical Trail Features out of rock and constructing a boardwalk through an environmentally sensitive wetland. During the course of the weekend, participants also designed and built a quarter-mile trail along a steep esker embankment that required extensive benchcutting and rock cribbing in order to bypass one of the worst cases of fall line trail in the park. While a quarter-mile may not sound like much, it took about 25 people two days to bring the project to near completion.
"The New England Mountain Bike Association is at the forefront of trail building," said NEMBA's executive director, Philip Keyes, "and this training will give rise to better trails being created throughout the region. This is good for everyone, trail users and land management agencies alike."
Despite the hard work, the energy level was high and there was much riding and carousing by the campfire in the evenings, courtesy of Harpoon Brewery. All the attendees, including the land manager of Mount Agamenticus, left the course with enthusiasm to return to their local areas and apply their trail knowledge to better their local parks.
The school was funded by the Department of Conservation and Recreation's Recreational Trail Program Grant, and we are especially grateful to the Army Corps of Engineers and the International Mountain Bicycling Association for making the event successful.
