Tuesday, September 06, 2011

Equestrians, Hikers and Mountain Bikers Welcome

On Sunday, I saw the cover of the Union Sunday edition and it made me smile ear to ear. The front page headline shouted out: "On the Trail: Equestrians, Hikers and Mountain Bikers Welcome".

I've long preached the virtues of working together with different user groups to produce a larger inventory of local trails. The Gold Country Trails Council shares this vision, which is wonderful. Sometimes, I think that as a trail community, we take this cooperative spirit for granted. In Marin, Folsom, Santa Rosa and other Northern California locals, different user groups can be at each others throats fighting over trail access. Here we do things different.

Including multi-use trails in our planning means that we all have more trails to use. We can and should build mountain-bike specific features or even entire trails for sure. But it is worth recognizing that a shared use approach leverages the collective interests and resources of all of us, instead of just one group.

If you have not see the Union article, check it out.

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