Biâ¢opic - Flagstaff Biking

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Page 6 Bi•opic : A semi-regular publication of Flagstaff Biking Organization Fall 2006 2006 Trail Building and Maintenance Program Balancing new construction and much-needed maintenance The FBO Trail Program has “ w e a t h e r e d ” through forest closures, extreme drought conditions and record setting monsoon rainstorms this season, managing to hold 7 trail day events since late April. Our dedicated group of trailcrew volunteers and Forest Service representatives have completed maintenance projects on the following trails: Elden Lookout, Fatman’s Loop, Sunset Trail (2 events) and the Fort Valley Trail system. New trail construction has been focused on the reroute of the Upper Moto Trail, with 4 trail days dedicated to this brand new, advanced multi use trail. The completion date of the new Upper Moto Trail is slated for Spring 07. Work will continue on the trail throughout the Fall, weather permitting. Volunteer hours have exceeded 1500 hours so far this season, with a goal of 2000 hours for the 2006 season. Anyone interested in volunteering for any of the FBO trail projects can contact the trail program coordinator through the FBO website. FBO created their volunteer trail day program in 2002 as a way to unite the various trail user groups (hikers, bikers, equestrians, trail runners, motorcyclists) with all the Government public land agencies. These agencies include the USFS, Coconino County, City of Flagstaff, BLM and Thanks to our generous sponsors State Land departments. Since 2002, the FBO trail programs have coordinated the building and development of over 25 miles of new and improved multi-use trails in and around the Flagstaff area. The vision of the Trail Progam continues to evolve but the original goals of building new multi-use trails and maintaining as well as improving existing trails in the Flagstaff area are still the main focus. We achieve these goals with the help of our local government land agencies, an amazing volunteer group of trail users and YOU! If you use the trails, join us this season and help make the Flagstaff trail system even better! The trail program is open to everyone age 16 and over. September 23rd Sandys Canyon Maintenance of Sandys Canyon Trail from Lake Mary Road Meet at: Sandy’s Canyon trail head & Lake Mary Road Sponsored by: October 14th Lower Brookbank Trail Maintenance of Lower Brookbank Trail from Mt. Elden Lookout Road Meet at: Lower Brookbank trail head & Mt. Elden Lookout Road October 28th Fort Valley/Uper Moto Trail New construction of Fort Valley/ Upper Moto Trails Meet at: Hwy 180 & FS164B November 11th Pipeline/ Mt. Elden Trail system Maintenance of Pipeline/Mt Elden Trail system Meet at: TBD Please come out and give back to the trails. Don’t talk about it, BE about it! All Trail Events start at 9am and will end at 3pm. Lunch and refreshments provided at all events. Raffle prizes and trail T-shirts eligible to all volunteers. Please wear protective footwear, long pants, and bring gloves if you have them. Tools and protective gear will be provided. For additional information, check the FBO website or contact: Mark Gullo at (928) 214-0105 or trails@flagstaffbiking.org. Mobile Trail Crew Mark Gullo has nearly achieved the lofty goal of local status after 20 years on the trails and roads of Northern AZ. From his first taste of dirt at a Sunset Trail event in 1987 to his current role as FBO’s trail program coordinator, multi-use trail advocacy and preservation has been one of his passions. The FBO Mobile Trail Crew program enters into it’s 3rd season in 2006. This program combines trail maintenance with a mountain bike ride or hike since the trail tools are lightweight and portable. FBO provides the portable tool kits to the trail crew. The crew arrives together at a specified trail location in need of minor maintenance and spends approximately 1.5 hours or more addressing the issues. Afterwards, the mobile crew continues the ride and/or hike and arrives back in town before dark. Please contact Mark if you are interested in helping with Mobile Trail Crew. We are also considering adding a weekend trail crew date if there is interest. FBO has a limited number of positions open this season for the mobile trail crew program; all interested parties can contact the FBO website, www.flagstaffbiking.org or trails@ flagstaffbiking.org. Mark Gullo FBO trail coordinator can be contacted directly at (928) 214-0105. FBO Bike Recycling Program FBO will recycle your old, unwanted bikes and give them a new life for a charitable deduction. For more information, contact Mark Gullo at (928) 214- 0105 or trails@flagstaffbiking.org. come visit us at www.flagstaffbiking.org
Volume #1, Issue #5 Bi•opic : A semi-regular publication of Flagstaff Biking Organization Page 7 Lake Mary Widening Project As many of you know, about a year ago, Flagstaff had public input meetings to discuss the widening of Lake Mary Road. The United States Forest Service (USFS), Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) and the Federal Highways Department representatives were available for presentation and questions with regard to the widening and improvement of safety turnouts along the narrow stretch of Lake Mary Road. Following massive public support, the project was approved. As many of you also know, the Lake Mary project is scheduled for implementation in 2009. The following is an update on that Project. According to Tom Puto of the Federal Highways Program, the program that is in place to do these forest highway improvements is called the Forest Highway Program. There are three entities that determine what the priorities are for the Forest Highway Program within the State. These three entities are the USFS, ADOT, and the Federal Highways Department. They meet once a year regarding the priorities. This year the meeting should be in March in Phoenix. Some of the criteria for prioritization are: recreation usage, safety, amount of traffic, and validity of the project. At this point, Tom states that the Lake Mary Road Widening Program is still set for 2009. The design should be done by the fall of 2007. At this point, he believes they will have about 7-9 million dollars for the Lake Mary Road Widening Project. He is estimating that with the hugely escalating cost of construction, the project will cost around 14-15 million to do the entire length of narrow roadway. (Of course, these are estimates on his part.) According to Mr. Puto, the project that bumped Lake Mary Road widening project from the initially projected date was the Big Lake Project. This was always on the list ahead of the Flagstaff Project and had been on their list for about 9 years before it was built. The Big Lake Project ran into cost problems and was not built out in its entirety. The project was shortened because they did not have the funds to build it as planned. This had to do with the rising cost of construction of approximately 20-25% per year in the last few years. When asked if it was possible that the Lake Mary Road project could be bumped from our place on the priority list, Mr. Puto advised me that although he did not think this was probable, it was possible. He cited that there Jan Blackman has been riding road and mountain bikes since 1987, commutes to work and loves the bike lifestyle. She’s on the Bicycle Advisory Committee and Parks & Rec Commission because she believes it is important to get involved in the community and encourage all that ride bikes to do the same. is a project on Highway 260, near Young, Arizona that one Congressman was trying to get to the forefront before ours. Apparently, there may be about 1 million dollars from an outside source (other than the Forest Service Program) that is available for the project and that could sway its placement on the priority list. It appears like the Forest Roads Program will be 7-8 million dollars short to fund the entire project. If we can find some more funding, this will not only help us obviously to actually do the project; but it might also help us when determinations are made to prioritize projects. To express your support for this project, contact Rick Renzi at rick.renzi@mail.house.gov or (928) 213-3434 and let him know you want the Lake Mary Road Widening Project to proceed as planned. Contact: jblackman@npgcable.com Keeping Secret Things we do everyday you might not ever know about. When the final Environmental Assessment for the Fort Valley Ecosystem Restoration Project was released by the U.S. Forest Service in July of 2000, it had been through the numerous review processes as well as a couple of lawsuits. The plan had initially been assembled through the efforts of the Greater Flagstaff Forest Partnership, a group that included the Grand Canyon Trust, the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, among others. Its intent was to use a community partnership to restore forest health in the Fort Valley area through prescribed burns, thinning projects, wildlife habitat protection and trail and road management. At the time that this plan was created and decided, there was no Flagstaff Biking Organization. Many of the key players in the agencies and organizations involved have since moved on. To compound issues, this document is over 180 pages and in some cases is a bit vague as to specifically what was intended to be done as a final action. Among the things that have been accomplished in Fort Valley is the construction of several miles of new single track by Flagstaff Biking Organization volunteers and the Forest Service. One project that has yet to be started is the obliteration of social trails. (For the record, Flagstaff Biking is not excited about this proposition, as it will eliminate some riding opportunities. The up side to this plan is that we will probably see a net gain of good mountain bike trail miles in Fort Valley. FBO will not be participating in this obliteration.) Secret Trail has been an ongoing part of the interpretive process regarding the implementation of the Plan. This trail is slated to become a system trail (recognized by the Forest Service) with some reroutes and realignment. Specifically, sections of this trail pass through a Mexican Spotted Owl nesting site, and the trail must be moved to protect this endangered species. (Similarly, Upper Moto is being adopted into the system, but is being entirely re-routed because the current alignment is along the fall line and it is eroding into a ditch.) As management roles of individuals at the Peaks District of the Coconino National Forest have changed Anthony Quintile is an avid mountain biker and motorcyclist, and promotes multipleuse where ever he rides. Through many events and volunteer efforts, he is an advocate for trail building and riding. He is the manager of Absolute Bikes, and can be found there most days. and as Forest Service employees have moved on, information about the implementation of the Fort Valley plan has tended to be “lost” within the system. Secret Trail, on several occasions, got lost in this shuffle. Throughout these changes, we have been in communication with various administrators within the Peaks District in order to keep as many trails as possible by making sure that if they were included in the Fort Valley plan that they stay in the plan and become system trails, which is ultimately the best way to ensure the future of a trail. As it stands, we are waiting for the opportunity to go out and help flag the new alignments for Secret Trail, which will extend all the way to Schultz Tank eventually. The good news is that now Secret Trail is on everyone’s agenda for inclusion in the System. Contact: anthony@absolutebikes.net or (928) 779-5969
Page 1 and 2: Volume #1, Issue #5 Bi•opic : A s
Page 5: Volume #1, Issue #5 Bi•opic : A s

Biâ¢opic - Flagstaff Biking

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?

Biâ¢opic - Flagstaff Biking