About Trail Maintenance

The Process

Before projects are identified and solutions are determined it is essential to be familiar with the park and understand its users, terrain, and sensitive areas.  As such, a significant amount of planning and pre-work is done before projects are undertaken:

• The TM team receives trail condition input from Trail Ambassadors, land managers, park user emails, and time spent in the park.
• As issues arise, projects are prioritized for: Monthly Friends of MRP sessions, immediate/emergency TM, or smaller projects for one or two TM volunteers. This prioritization depends on the time, complexity, and potential for further trail degradation attributed to the issue.
• Prior to performing any work, the issue site is assessed for specific causes of the issue (sometimes the culprit isn't as easily identifiable as one might hope).  Identifying causes is critical to developing sustainable solutions.
• Site topography, trail/hill grades, locally available resources (rocks, logs, and good dirt), nearby sensitive area are all accounted for in planning a solution.
• If a re-route is necessary, it is flagged, or marked, then observed in both wet and dry conditions, if necessary it is re-marked for better sustainability. It usually takes weeks of planning and observation before any re-routing occurs. The same amount of observation and time of consideration is used in the event a trail is to be closed.
• Projects use US Forest Service and International Mountain Bike Association (IMBA) generally accepted best practices and techniques for Trail Maintenance and Building.

As a rule, due to the sensitivity of the riverbank areas of Mianus River Park, the TM team will defer work in these areas to the City of Stamford and Trout Unlimited that has specific resources and knowledge regarding riparian areas.

Issue Identification:

• Water-related issues
  
• Trail User related issues
  
• General Trail Maintenance

Water-related issues are typically related to:
Fall Line & General Erosion - legacy trails built on natural contours where the trail tread is the path of least resistance for water from top to bottom. The effects of water and gravity on a poorly-designed and routed trail surface is a battle that the water will win and the trail will lose. The impacts of constant water flow create erosion where top layers of soil are removed exposing rocks and roots that also wear away creating deep ruts or cavities and dangerous trail conditions.

Sustainable Solutions: If possible, utilize knicks, armor, and rolling grade dips, or if necessary re-route trail.

Muddy Spots - mud forms because water does not have a place to go, typically the trail is on a flat, low-lying area.

Sustainable Solutions: knick the lower side of the trail to provide an area for water to flow; armor; if armoring is not feasible and no suitable grade changes exist for knicks or grade dips, consider boardwalk or re-route.

Trail User related issues are typically related to:
Trail Widening or bootleg trails:  Typically occurs as a result of a muddy spots, a trail hazard, or a point of interest where trail users avoid the issue by going around, widening, or creating a substitute trail to avoid the issue.  Can also occur at points of interest (riverbank entry points) or along heavily used trails where trail users frequently seek alternate routes to pass or allow other trail users to pass, as well as points where trail users converge at the same time creating alternate routes to open space.

Sustainable Solutions: Depending on the cause, use appropriate response. For muddy spots, consider previously mentioned solutions; trail hazards - consider removing the hazard or building a sustainable reroute; for high traffic areas consider an artificial (non-dirt or local rock trail tread), i.e. gravel, boardwalk, paving, or stone dust on top of a geo-textile fabric as necessary. 

General Trail Maintenance
Typically involves downed trees, over grown bushes, tree branches that have grown into trail, and other general natural impacts. Also includes Deer Fence maintenance, blazing and signing trails, maintaining kiosks, and trash pick up.

Sustainable Solution: Trim back trees with loppers to remove growth, but not so close to bark of trunk of tree that the trunk or bark are damaged (cut above the "collar" of the branch at the trunk); chainsaw over-sized hazardous downed trees, identify "hanging" trees for city removal where volunteer efforts aren't possible or where danger is too great; use common sense to keep park clean and green from man-made debris.

Common TM solutions and techniques:

• Trail armoring: digging in and anchoring large rocks to enhance the trail surface, or tread, and harden it against erosion or to provide a water resistant sustainable trail tread through a wet area where other TM techniques have proved ineffective. Time to complete: 1-30 man hours
• Knick: a large man made depression that should be wide enough that the regular trail user does not notice it, think a cross section of a spoon that allows water to pass from the up hill side of the trail, to the downhill side of the trail.  Time to complete: 1-6 man hours
• Rolling Grade Dip: A "bump" in the trail that diverts the flow of water off the trail before a graded section. This involves moving enough dirt and rock to create a barely noticeable hump in the trail. Time to complete: 9-15 man hours
• Re-route or closing: moves the trail due to sensitive areas, erosion, or other unsustainable negative impact situations. Time to complete: about 6ft of trail can be built per hour by a volunteer.
• Choke points:  where trail widening or trail bootlegs occur the use of large specifically placed rocks and logs accomplish visual and physical trail boundaries. These are placed so that they do not impede the flow of water, i.e. logs are perpendicular to the trail vs. parallel where that can trap water and create muddy areas.  Time to complete 20min per log/rock point
• Trail corridor maintenance: This involves trimming back vegetation, removing blow down and deadfall, as well as removing small downed trees. Essentially keeping the trail tread safe for all trail users. Time to complete: varies

Leave only tracks and take only pictures.

- Ryan Tucker (Trailwork Planning Coordinator)