Sunday, October 23, 2011

Today at Bullards

Today, I did an inventory of several Bullard's trails in preparation for BONC's trailwork day on November 19th. Recent storms took down a fair number of trees (~10) on the Bullard's Bar Trail itself, but Schoolhouse and Eight Ball looked fine. If the USFS does not get to these before our volunteer day, we hope take them out. Later this week, Moss and Joe Chavez will do a further inventory of additional needed improvements.

There are two blown out sections: one east of Dark Day and the monster one west of the boat launch. Once the USFS repairs the giant canyon (perhaps in 2012), BONC will cut a new section of short trail to replace the portion taken out last year.

NOTE: If you or anyone else takes out the aforementioned downed trees, please let me know so that we don't waste volunteer time hiking out to these areas, thanks.





Tuesday, October 18, 2011

How Do We Build A Trail?

This following article appears in the latest Bear Yuba Land Trust newsletter. It describes how the Land Trust successfully creates so many local trails:

"Bear Yuba Land Trust has been successful in building a number of trails in recent years in an area where prior to that the only trails were those on public lands managed by the Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management and the State Parks. How did we do it? We did it with partners in each and every case. Trail building is a complex and often difficult task requiring securing trail easements, permits, completing environmental studies, and lining up funds and resources for trail construction. This is where the partners come into the picture with various degrees of involvement.

The Hirschman Trail is a joint venture with the City of Nevada City, the property owner. A Memorandum of Understanding set out the responsibilities of each party. The Land Trust prepared the grant application, designed the trail, prepared specifications and provided oversight during construction while the City was the grant applicant, completed environmental studies, secured permits, assumed accountability for all expenses, contracting, signing, and completion of the grant stipulations. Working together as partners, the trail was completed.

Another recent trail project is the Rattlesnake Ridge Trails which were constructed by volunteers from the Rattlesnake Neighborhood Association and the Land Trust on trail easements donated by the developer of Rattlesnake Ridge and on County Road Right-of-Way. The Neighbors came to the Land Trust for assistance in designing and construction of the trails, providing additional volunteer assistance and securing a County encroachment permit to build the trail. Without this cooperative effort, it’s not likely that the trail system would have been completed.

The Deer Creek Tribute Trail on the north side of Deer Creek was built with the involvement of a very large number of groups including Friends of Deer Creek (Sierra Streams Institute), American Rivers, Champion Road Homeowners Association, City of Nevada City, Bureau of Land Management, Nevada Irrigation District, Sierra Fund, and the Land Trust. Each had a role in the building of the trail which provides a route through Nevada City and downstream paralleling Deer Creek on a combination of sidewalks, roads, trails, and canal banks to a bridge crossing Deer Creek at the lower end of the project. This 8 mile long trail system will soon be complimented by a trail on the south side of Deer Creek from Jordan Street to Providence Mine Road following the abandoned Rough and Ready Ditch. Partners for this project are the City of Nevada City and Sierra Streams Institute.

Other trails and partners include the Loma Rica Trail (Loma Rica Ranch, County of Nevada, Northern Sierra Air Quality Management District), the Cascade Canal and Orene Wetherall Trails (Save Our Historic Canals, Banner Mountain Homeowners, Rotary, Bureau of Land Management and Nevada Irrigation District). The Alan Thiesen Trail was built by Alta Sierra Property Owners Association (ASPOA) and the Land Trust. ASPOA provided funding for the brush clearing and volunteers to assist Land Trust volunteers with the construction and on- going maintenance. We would be remiss if we didn’t mention the “Adopt-A-Trail” program where routine trail maintenance is accomplished by volunteers who have agreed to take care of the trail.

Our volunteer with the longest stint, Deane Dvorcek, has been caring for a portion of the Litton Trail since 2004. We currently need Adopt-A-Trail volunteers for Litton, Cascade Canal Access, Orene Wetherall and Hirschman Trails. If you are interested in adopting a trail segment, contact Bill Haire.

Bill Haire Trails Coordinator"

Friday, October 14, 2011

Round Mountain Gala Ride 11/5

Join FATRAC and BONC at our upcoming Gala as we ride BONC-maintained singletrack at Round Mountain. Meet at at Merrimas and Rock Creek Road @ 10AM on Saturday, 11/5/11. This is a No Rider Left Behind event. Cold beer will be provided after the ride by BONC. Helmets and waiver
signature required. See map:

http://g.co/maps/yvpbd

See you on the trail!

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Local Youth Race on Saturday

The NU Miners race team and others will compete at a local race venue on Saturday, so please join in and cheer them on!

The races kicks off 11AM off Conservation Camp Road as you head up Highway 20. Look for the event signs. Bring your cow bells, camping chairs, cameras, and appetite to enjoy a day on the Tahoe National Forest. Horn of the Bull Caterer will be catering this event with it’s famous green sauce topping on tamales, tacos, quesadillas, etc. Cheese quesadillas for vegetarians. Bring your own water; there is none available on site.

The race is open to middle school age teens as well and they are not required to be in school bike clubs. Same day registration requires parental signature on release waiver, and a $5 one day USACycling License, plus the race fee.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Trails at Rice's Crossing

The Bear Yuba Land Trust is applying for a grant to take title to Rice's Crossing, which comprises thousands of acres southwest of Bullards Bar. Should they be successful, the Land Trust will plan and build many miles of trail on this property with connectivity to the Bullards trail system. Very exciting stuff. See map at left.

BONC recently submitted a letter of support for this initiative. Also, BONC director Terry Hundemer recently visited the property with Land Trust staff.

This is one of many such trail-related projects the Land Trust is pursuing at this time. In the near future, the Land Trust may acquire tens of thousands of acreage, from south county to Grouse Ridge. We are fortunate that our Land Trust supports the vision of balanced recreation and preservation and BONC wants to help them build more trails for our community.

BONC continues to strengthen our involvement and support with the BYLT as we recognize that no local entity creates as many nearby trails as our Land Trust. The more we support these efforts, the more we can have input on trail access, design and location. We hope that other local mountain bikers will also step up, either at Land Trust trailwork days or via financial support.

Monday, October 10, 2011

RECAP: United Trail Day 2011

This year's United Trail Day event was bigger than ever, with my guestimate coming in at 100 participants. The Nevada County Woods Riders, Gold Country Trails Council, BONC, Nevada Union Miners and Union Hill School Bearcats all convened to deliver some impressive trailwork on Burlington Ridge area trails.

The crew I led brushed the Towle and Hallelujah trails, which very much needed our attention. I started to take pictures, but really, what is the point when Robert Lowe is out there working his photographic magic. See his event pictures.

I was very pleased to see the high turnout of young volunteers. We set a great example for these kids when we demonstrate through example the meaning and value of trail stewardship. Big thanks to Chuck Ross, Sam Raymond, Eric Newman and others for bringing the kids. And to the Gold Country Trails Council that fed them a great meal afterwards.

FYI: If you are looking for a riding destination this week, look no further than Burlington Ridge. Jon Pritchett, Jamiel Fox and I rode it extensively yesterday and it is tacky and sweet. Best conditions all year.