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Torsten Heycke�Chief Trails Evangelist, AWTA

  • Who we are
  • What we do
  • Outcomes
  • Future

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Non-profit group of trail enthusiasts �who work with:

  • Ashland Parks and Recreation
  • The Forest Service
  • The Pacific Crest Trail Association

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Mission: stewardship of a sustainable trail system in the greater Ashland area.

Stewardship: the careful planning and responsible management of something entrusted to one’s care

Sustainable: something of lasting duration, maintainable, environmentally responsible

Greater Ashland: on city lands, on forest service lands in the watershed and ~30-miles on the PCT.

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What we do: Long-term planning

Forest Service Lands: 5-year Environmental Study

City of Ashland:�Trails Master Plan

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What we do:

Trail building and maintenance

Alice

Bandersnatch

Bandersnatch East

BTI

Caterpillar

Catwalk

Cottle trails

Eastview

Fell on Knee

Gryphon

Hald-Strawberry trails

Hitt Rd

Jubjub

Lewis Loops (Gyre and Gimble)

Lizard

Lower Red Queen

Marty’s Connector

New Jabberwocky

No Candies

Pacific Crest Trail

Potlicker

Red Queen

Ricketty

Snark

Split Rock

Time Warp

Uhtoff

Wagner Glade

White Rabbit

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What we do:

Close trails

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What we do:

Clean up garbage:�Waterline, Eastview, Gryphon, Ricketty

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What we do:

Help develop maps and guides

Hikingproject.com (REI effort)

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What we do:

Signs

Mom, look what I did with my PhD.

(Post-hole Digger)

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What we do:

Install:

  • drain pipe
  • weed fabric
  • culverts
  • picnic benches
  • sitting benches
  • native plants

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What we do:

Easements

  • Along TID trail
  • Alice in Wonderland

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What we do:

Work with different groups

  • SOU students
  • Rogue Valley Mountain Bike Association
  • Northwest Youth Corps
  • Boy Scouts
  • High School Students

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Outcomes:

  • separate trails for hikers and bikers
  • distributed use
  • more options for all

  1. Reduced user conflict

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Outcomes:

  • Many bike-free or virtually bike free trails
  • Many loops
  • Many starting points�

1a. Unfettered hiking

Plus Gyre and Gimble (Lewis Loops)

and new Wonder trail coming

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Outcomes:

  • Linked routes, ped-free
  • Variety of routes
  • Many starting points�

1b. Unfettered biking

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Outcomes:

  • West side offers compelling alternative
  • Less concentration of users = less conflict

1c. Distributed trails

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Outcomes:

  • Less rogue trail building
  • Less use of rogue & unsustainable trails

2. Better behavior elicited

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Outcomes:

  • Enhances quality of life
  • Health benefits
  • Economic benefits

3. More trail use

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Outcomes

“You can bike or trail-run right from town.”

2017: Several trails, including Bandersnatch highlighted.

4. Trails as destination

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Outcomes:

5. Community-based enthusiasm for building and maintaining trails.

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Future:

  • Trail steward program
  • Waterline Ped fix
  • Lower Alice re-route
  • White Rabbit TH fix
  • New Wonder trail
  • New Mad Hatter trail

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Bonus Reel 1: Some mostly bike-free routes

After video, click anywhere outside video to advance to next slide

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Bonus Reel 2: Lizard-Jabberwocky MTB

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Bonus:

Funds for us:

  • Mt Ashland Hill Climb
  • Bandersnatch 5K
  • Lewis Loops 10 mile

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Bonus:

Funds for others (in 2017):

  • Siskiyou Mountain Club $1000
  • Applegate Trail Assoc. $1000
  • Pacific Crest Trail Assoc. $1000
  • Siskiyou Uplands Trail Assoc. $1000
  • Southern Oregon Land Conservancy $1000
  • Ashland HS Track $4000