2017 Project Report: Priority 1 Trail Repairs - Boulder Ranger District Boulder Mountainbike Alliance

Transcription

1 2017 Project Report: Priority 1 Trail Repairs - Boulder Ranger District Boulder Mountainbike Alliance BMA partnered with the USFS Boulder Ranger District (USFS), to repair two flood-damaged trails (Sourdough and Buchanan Trails) and several trails that were severely damaged during the 2012 fuels reduction logging in the West Magnolia Trail System near Nederland, CO. These are some of the most popular mountain bike destinations in Boulder County. BMA commenced on-the-ground work immediately. In fall 2015, BMA deployed four weeks of Rocky Mountain Youth Corps (RMYC) trail crew with professional oversight/leadership from ContourLogic. Before the snow stuck--and thanks to lingering good weather--we completed nearly half of the total project scope replacing a bridge on the Sourdough Trail, rebuilding a section of the Buchanan Trail and repairing/maintaining the School Bus Trail. In 2016, in consensus with the USFS, we postponed the WestMag portion of scope while USFS completed updating their Trail Plan for the area (EA final decision December 2016). This postponement allowed us to ensure that all work performed would not only be consistent with any new management directives, but also utilize the opportunity to leverage the effort into progress toward the new master-planned system. In a couple locations that mean that instead of band-aiding a trail in-place, we were able to construct a new more sustainable tread realignment and fully reclaim fall-line ruts. In the meantime, BMA garnered additional funding from National Wilderness Stewardship Alliance. With this funding, we reintegrated nearly all of the scope tasks that had be trimmed when our National Forest Foundation grant application was unsuccessful. In 2017 we completed the remaining project scope: the first phase of repairs and improvements to the West Magnolia trail system near Nederland. ContourLogic managed an integrated effort of Mile High Youth Corps (MHYC), Gumption Trail Works, and volunteers from BMA to build, reroute and maintain ~3 miles of trail and fully reclaim ~1.5 mile of unsustainable/nonsystem routes. Please enjoy the for trail-by-trail summary to follow. Thanks to awesome supporters and funders, the project is now complete and all trails are open to the public! By the Numbers Trail Constructed: ~3 miles Trail Maintained: ~3.5 miles Route Closed + Reclaimed: ~47,000 square feet (1.5 miles) Youth Corps Engaged: 3 Programs, ~25 Corps Members Volunteers Engaged: ~900 hours Bridges + Puncheons Built: 190 linear feet Causeway Built: ~300 linear feet Optional Trail Features: ~20 Total Cost: $181,953 ($93k cash / $60k in-kind / $29k volunteer) Partners + Funding US Forest Service, Boulder Ranger District Colorado Parks & Wildlife, Trails Program National Wilderness Stewardship Alliance Boulder Mountainbike Alliance Can d Aid Foundation Boulder Area Trails Coalition Rocky Mountain Youth Corps Mile High Youth Corps Rocky Mountain Conservancy ContourLogic Gumption Trail Works Oskar Blues Boulder Mountain Bike Patrol

2 Flood Damaged Trails Sourdough Trail (#835) Disassembled existing, failed bridge. Dispersed native and biodegradable materials. Hauled treated/painted lumber to staging area for USFS disposal. Collected scrap metal for recycling. Maintained caution-tape + cones for duration. Rebuilt the entire bridge structure (~120 lf): o Replaced 7 failed log-crib abutments with new gabions. Installed wedge anchors on four (4) remaining abutments as needed. o Each of the 10 spans, ranging from 10-16, is comprised of three (3) 4x12 stringers. o Width ~36 (27 clear) with one 12 long, 48 wide passing section. o Decking (4x12 lumber) spaced at with TimberLok fasteners; Curb rails (2x4 ). o Treated lumber throughout; all cuts re-treated. L-brackets and tension braces each span. Rebuilt approach ramps on each side with rockcauseway construction (~150 sq ft). Rock armored existing abutments to reduce scour by stream flow. Armored ~50 linear feet of undercut stream bank. Improved ford for equestrians. Maintained ~1000 of adjacent Sourdough Trail: o Repaired impacts from materials transport. o Installed/improved 7 drainage structures (knicks, drains, grade dips). o Narrowed active tread to approx meandering within road-bed bench. Installed 18 sets of anchors, spread native duff mixture.

3 Buchanan Trail (#910) USFS and BMA teamed up to make huge progress addressing a litany of repairs on Buchanan Trail. USFS deployed seasonal trails staff and a Rocky Mountain Conservancy Youth corps (RMC) to the project for 3 weeks in the summer. (Note: no grant funds used towards USFS staff or RMC crew; efforts are In-Kind match only). In the fall, BMA utilized a RMYC crew and ContourLogic for nearly two weeks to tackle the most difficult sections. Total repairs completed: Constructed ~540 sq ft of heavy-duty Turnpike. Timbers are large-diameter native spruce with lapped and pinned junctions. Filled with stone pitching and rocks crushed on-site; capped with ~4 of crusher-fine. Gutters armored with native rip-rap and integrated with drainage structures. Constructed ~160 sq ft of Causeway. Constructed ~28 Type-2 Puncheon and ~35 Type-3 Puncheon with native sills and dimensional treads. Installed 23 integrated drainage structures: o 9 Knicks + 6 Grade Dips o 3 Timber Culverts / cross drains o 4 rebuilt Round Culverts o 1 large French Drain West Magnolia Trails School Bus Trail School Bus Trail was trimmed from scope when funding fell short, but we were able to still complete the following repairs: Realign ~100 linear feet of trail to its location prior to being blocked by blow down ~5 years ago: o Build ~100 of new wide class-2 tread, o Buck-out ~25 blown-down trees, o Reclaim, decompact and disguise social trail. Install / Improve 13 drainage structures (Knicks, grade dips, drainage rollers, etc). Rock-armor one year-round stream crossing and reclaim ~200 sq ft of trail braiding.

4 Aspen Alley + Pungee Trail Reroutes Maintained, rerouted and reconstructed the Aspen Alley and Pungee Trails to provide a single contiguous singletrack trail connecting to access points in the WestMag system. Provides large section of the core loop, and highlights namesake aspen groves and a major vista toward Nederland. Constructed o ~6,800 of new trail to reform 3 reroutes and rebuild a trail obliterated during logging o ~140 of 36 causeway through wet area o Mostly handbuilt via Youth Corps and volunteers o selectively graded adjacent parking area and service road to solve drainage affecting trail Closed and reclaimed 4,800 linear feet (23,500 sqft) of old road and/or unsustainable trail: o Mechanical decompaction o mulch with native leaf litter and duff saved from adjacent trail construction, slash with native woody materials Aspen Alley Road-to-Trail This existing segment was a skid road bulldozed during logging. Grass and shrubs had began to grow into the roadbed providing an illusion of singletrack. Yet it was a muddy mess each spring and quickly eroding into a large rut. The full-scale road-to-trail conversion meanders within existing, road corridor & dovetailed attention to multiple disciplines. Special consideration to drainage (gentle fallline corridor): frequent grade reversals, massive sumps allowing water to absorb to enhance aspen regeneration. Mulched old route & construction disturbance with natively harvested seed and duff. New-school flow-trail design to provide a MTB experience lacking anywhere else in Boulder county and replace the character of the old tanktrap section of Whoop-Di-Do Trail. This one s already a crowd pleaser! o Earthen features (berms, rollers, jumps, drains) built from native soil excavated from drainage sumps via 7500# excavator o Consideration for bidirectional travel including ascending-optimized lines w/in same corridor

5 SugarMag Trail Reroute the lower (northern) end of SugarMag trail from private property to new alignment entirely on USFS land: Construct 625 linear feet of trail to o ~140 of crowned tread o OTF over large boulder Close & Reclaim 500 lf of trail leading to private property Trailhead Connector Trail Reroute the trail from a low-lying, often muddy, skid road to the cross-slope and provide a contiguous singletrack connect from the main trail head to the Whoop-Di-Do and Aspen Alley trails. Construct 1,040 linear feet of trail to o enhanced socially created OTF at test pit Close + reclaim ~1,000 linear feet of skid road Whoop-Di-Do Reroute Reroute the lower (southern) end of Whoop-Di-Do trail from a tank-trapped old fall-line utility road. Connect to the main WestMag trailhead. Construct 3,500 linear feet of trail to o ~250 of crowned tread through areas of masticated woody debris o ~150 rock wall o ~90 rock-armored tread o Built via combination of 6 excavator, 36 skidsteer and hand work o Multiple OTFs using native rock-outcrops, trail located near natural features that could be later worked into OTF to further leverage the trail into a second experience Closed and reclaimed 1,100 lf (8,800 sqft) of old road and/or unsustainable trail: o Mechanical decompaction o mulch with native leaf litter and duff saved from adjacent trail construction, slash with native woody materials