The Ohio Trails Partnership

Hocking State Forest - March, 2007  

 

The Ohio Trails Partnership is a loosely formed coalition of organizations dedicated to preserving trails used by muscle powered user groups.  It primarily consists of  the Ohio Horseman's Council, the Ohio and International Mountain Biking Associations, and the Buckeye Trail Association in cooperation with land managers from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) and the United States Forestry Service (USDF).  The organization has sponsored one work weekend a year for the last six years at different locations within the state.  

 
The location for the 2007 work weekend was the Hocking State Forest . The event was hosted by the Fairfield County Chapter of the Ohio Horseman's Council who fed the volunteers with the help of OHC members from the Fairfield and Hocking County Chapters.   Palmerosa Horse Camp provided free camping, breakfast and Steve's special "cowboy beans" and donations from corporate sponsors (Millstone Barbeque, Sav-a-Lot, Kroger, Wal-Mart, Corner Cafe, Brent Semingson Horse Training, Bays' Food Mart, Archway Cookies, Conn Potato Chips,& EBE Healthcare) helped fill in the gaps.

 

Several locations within the forest were involved in the project which took place over a two day period.  On Saturday, one small group of individuals with a trac hoe were dispatched to the purple trail to improve drainage and remove a portion of rock that jutted into the trail.  The rain on Friday made for muddy challenging work on Saturday for this crew.

 

Another group went on horseback with the local ranger to post signage in attempt to eliminate horse traffic on illegal trails. Many of these are user created shortcuts that look like trails but are not. Signage should help us all from unintentionally riding where we shouldn't.

NOTICE

Horse Riding Prohibited Beyond This Sign

Foot Travel Only

 

The major bridle trails in the Hocking State Forest are Red, Orange, Purple,and Purple-Red. Side trails are marked with White. If you don't see one of these colors (ie green) then you are not riding on a legal bridle trail. Please ride responsibly. Shortcuts create problems with erosion and damage the forest we enjoy.

The White Falls Re-Route 

The trail to White Falls was severely eroded and was in danger of being closed.  The trail was worn deep and contained tree roots which were creating a safety hazard. The project required considerable man-power and involved moving tons of rock by hand.

 A portion of the old trail needed to be closed and a new one established to preserve equine access to the scenic falls.   A third group, of about 70 volunteers were "assigned" to this phase of work to re-route the trail  (at letter M) .   

Showing years of use and heavy traffic,  the old trail was so severely eroded that it looked like a ravine.

 

                    

 

The volunteers had to bench in a new trail  and then  install gambian baskets to prevent further erosion of the old trail. ODNR provided the stone and used their equipment to bring over 10 Ton of Rock from the rock pile to the volunteers

After that the "Bucket Brigade" had to move it up into place.

 

Finishing touches included installing new fence at the top and the bottom  .........

..............And reclaiming the old trail                                  

ODNR personnel installed log water bars to slow erosion

and assisted in spreading straw

 

and at the end of the day the completed project got a Thumbs-up from the Division of Forestry with a big THANK YOU to all the volunteers

                                                                And then there was another project for DAY 2......more pictures