IMBA Trail Building with the Best
Friday-Sunday, May 15th -17th
Over the weekend we will be hosting the IMBA Trail Care Crew, and conducting a trail design and construction workshop. Learn how to build sustainable trails from the pros. The course will focus on trail design and layout, and
will
have a strong hands-on component. While the emphasis of the training session will be on
mountain biking trail standards, methods learned at the workshop can be applied to all
motorized and non-motorized trails.
People, groups, and agencies interested in attending the course, please register at http://go.imba.com/fairbanks; or contact Malcolm at mcewen@mosquitonet.com or 479-5949 for more information.
Friday 7:00 - 8:00 PM: Meet and greet at Beaver Sports, 3480 College Road, Fairbanks
Saturday 9:00 - Noon: Trail building School classroom session at Goldstream Sports, 711 Sheep Creek Road Fairbanks
1:00 - 4:00 PM: Trail building School field session
5:30 PM: Barbecue at Goldstream sports
Sunday 9:00 - Noon: Advanced trail building classroom session at Goldstream Sports. This will be Trail building 201, taught by Alaska Trails & Interior Trails
1:00 - 4:00 PM: Advanced trail building field session along with a ride or hike.
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Ester Dome Singletrack
Proposal
GCO 8-Apr-08
The Interior region of Alaska has long attracted a varied range of outdoor enthusiasts. Hikers,
mountain bikers, ATV riders, snowmachiners, x-c skiers, equestrians, and others share the
hundreds of miles of doubletrack trails. Unfortunately, there are few narrow singletrack trails in
the Interior.
Because well-designed singletrack trails are attractive to many users, we are proposing the
phased construction of 20-30 miles of multi-use, non-motorized, sustainably designed and
constructed trail on the northern and eastern flanks of Ester Dome (see attached routing; blue
for proposed trail and green for existing trails). The trail is primarily intended for intermediate
level mountain bike riders, but is expected to attract hikers, runners and equestrians during the
summer and x-c skiers and snowshoers during winter months. The trail will be on public lands
owned by the State of Alaska and is expected to add immense recreational value for both local
and visiting users and be an added indirect source of revenue to local businesses.
The trail will be constructed using private sector donations and public sector grants. The design
and construction will follow standards established by the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) and
Alaska Trails. To minimize construction costs, mechanized equipment (Sweco 480, miniexcavator,
etc) will be used with the final tread and corridor dressing by hand crews. The trail
will be built to sustainable standards, so maintenance costs are expected to be minimal. Local
users groups and businesses have agreed to assist in the maintenance.
It is expected that there will be little conflict between different non-motorized user groups, and
because of the nature of the design and layout, there should be no conflict between motorized
and non-motorized user groups.
It is hoped that upon completion of the trail, that a recreational trail easement be granted to
Fairbanks North Star Borough and that the trail be Incorporated into the Borough’s
Comprehensive Recreational Trail Plan.
Trail Design Parameters
Trail Class: 2 **
Tread Width: 12 - 24”
Grade (Target Range): <12%
Grade (Short Pitch, Up/Down): 25% / 35%
Cross Slope: 5%
Clearing Width: 48”
Clearing Height: 7’
Turning Radius: 6-8’
** Under current USFS design specifications, a Class 2 trail is one that is “suitable for many
user types, but challenging and involves advanced skills.” Maintenance frequency and
signage are low to non-existent.
GCO 8-Apr-08
Stakeholders
Private Sector: Goldstream Sports, Beaver Sports, Frontier Outfitters/Woolly Rhino, Great Land
Sports.
User Groups: Fairbanks Cycle Club, Fairbanks Area Hiking Club, Running Club North, Nordic
Ski Club of Fairbanks.
Organizations: Interior Trails Preservation Coalition, Ester Community Association, Alaska
Trails, International Mountain Biking Association;
Agencies: Fairbanks North Star Borough (Dept of Parks & Recreation), Alaska Dept of Natural
Resources (Div of Parks & Outdoor Recreation), Alaska Dept of Natural Resources (Div of
Mining, Land & Water), U.S National Park Service (Rivers, Trails & Conservation Assistance
Program).
For additional information, please contact either Joel Buth (Goldstream Sports, ph:
907.455.6520, joel@goldstreamsports.com) or Geoffrey Orth (Alaska Trails, ph: 907.479.0014,
geoffrey.orth@alaska-trails.org).
© IMBA
Trail building update 2/4/08
We are building trails on Ester Dome this summer. I have a meeting Wednesday with the Borough Trail Coordinator about the exact location of the trail so it can be add to the Borough trails plan at some point not yet determined. After that meeting I will be contacting the DNR to let them know of the plans and get any permit that we may need the use mechanized trail building equipment.
Geoff Orth will be playing and key role in laying out the trail. He has extensive sustainable trail building training. He has been to the IMBA (International Mountain Bike Association) Trails Building School. He is also the President of Alaska Trails http://www.alaska-trails.org
The Trail will be designed as a narrow single track with a nice flow and tight turns. It will have trail features to add a change for those wish to use them. My goal this year is to build 10 miles of trails. The trail will be suitable for bikers and runners in the summer and snowshoes ion the winter.
At this time we are in the planning stage and hope to have everything lined up and ready to start building this spring. We will be heavily dependent on volunteers. We hope to use mechanized building but need to raise money for that to happen. We can build a lot more and much faster if we can raise enough money. We will be announcing the projected budget as it is determined.
Goldstream Sports is taking the lead at this time providing newsletter and web site support and getting the plan off the ground. We are also committing a large amount of money that we will be asking our customers to match out contribution when they make bike purchases. One option we are considering is donation $10 per bike sold and asking our customers to match. We may also go with a donation and match of 2% of the price of the bike. Our goal with match funds from our customers is to raise $10,000.00.
We will also be looking to other businesses to support the effort. We welcome participation from other bike shops and businesses. We will be adding a sponsor page to the web site soon.
If you are interested in helping organize and get this project off the ground please contact me at joel@goldstreamsports.com.
I will update this page as new info becomes available.
Joel Buth
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