Trail Maintenance in the White Mountains

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roadtripper

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Danvers, MA Avatar: The Wave, AZ
I made this new page last night to (hopefully) help inspire some people to adopt some of the "orphaned" trails in the White Mountains. Can you please take a look and provide feedback and help me improve it further? I am going to add pictures of all the tools over the next few days (and also expand a bit upon each of their purpose).

http://newenglandwaterfalls.com/trailmaintenance.php

Thanks!
 
Cool beans. But you didn't really open the folding saw vs pruning saw debate, did you? That's almost up there with postholing vs snowshoes...

Feel free to shoot me a message any time you're planning on a work-trip for the Coppermine Trail, I'm in the area most weekends.
 
I made this new page last night to (hopefully) help inspire some people to adopt some of the "orphaned" trails in the White Mountains. Can you please take a look and provide feedback and help me improve it further? I am going to add pictures of all the tools over the next few days (and also expand a bit upon each of their purpose).

http://newenglandwaterfalls.com/trailmaintenance.php

Thanks!

Nice. You could possibly add a few more links like the one Chris (Cooperhill?) had up at one point on axe use. I'll look for it and edit the post later if I find it, but that would be good. I imagine at this point you could find a Youtube video of how to clean out a water bar. In other words, maybe have a link for "maintenance help." That would help new maintainers understand the different tasks visually.

oh and PS - there's a typo in "Mountain" in the page title (no "i")
 
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Great idea on the youtube video for water bars! It's certainly a bit of an art form. Can't seem to find a really good one of BEFORE and AFTER on youtube though (I'll just make one the next time I do maintenance I guess)

Fixed the typo as well.

I'm going to avoid putting in information about axe use since you are technically supposed to attend training for that (although I suspect many do not and use the ax anyway).

Thanks Scott
 
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You missed one trail maintenance group:

Dartmouth Outing Club Cabin & Trail group
http://www.dartmouth.edu/~cabtrail/intro.shtml

(<s>75</s> 55 AT miles among other trails and cabins, and they take volunteers)

I've long had a similar list of organizations here: http://www.summitpost.org/view_object.php?object_id=171221#chapter_24 (I originally excluded BRATTs and LRCT for geographic reasons, but I've decided to add them now.)

I've added a link to your page and shamelessly cribbed for updated URLs.
 
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Roadtripper, you asked for feedback on tools. Here are some insights from Cardigan Highlanders Volunteer Trail Crew:

We brush trails and cut blowdowns with hand pruners, loppers, folding pruning saws, and 3' bow saws. On Spring patrol, everyone carries hand pruners to trim back young growth and train the plant to grow away from the trail. This works really well on hobble bush because you can see the stems before the leaves grow out. We also brush our trails after the leaves fall for the same reason. Folding pruning saws are much easier and safer to carry than small bow saws. We guard the blades of 3' bow saws with PVC pipe until we reach our work area.

We use hazel hoes only for grubbing out sidehill trail, which is seldom. We clean waterbars thusly: brush out the area over the outflow ditch with loppers, if needed. Clear away all the dry leaves with a 2' plastic leaf rake ($5.50 Ocean State Job Lots). If needed, loosen packed gravel and rock with a 2.5 lb. pick mattock ($22 Home Depot). Our main tool is a sharp long-handle shovel ($10 for a wood-handle one at a discount store. It is a shovel for throwing loose soil, not a prybar, RIGHT?). Starting at the downstream end of the ditch, we slide the shovel along the bottom of the ditch back towards the trail and throw each shovelful of mineral soil further upstream until we can throw it onto the trail tread just downhill of the waterbar. Using the shovel this way leaves a clean ditch with no dams, and the bottom is round to speed the water downstream. Once a ditch is dug 2' wide and 1' deep and the resulting strip of turf used as the berm on its downhill bank, we do not smother the plants on that berm with mineral soil from the ditch by hoeing its contents onto the berm. That mineral soil ends up back where it belongs, on the trail tread where hikers will pack it into a hard surface that resists erosion.
 
I know that clearing blowdowns is just a small part of trail maintenance, but I'd like to put in a plug for carrying a folding saw when you're hiking. I do, and on many hikes I find one or more opportunities to take out these pesky obstructions, especially in spring and summer. Very gratifying.
 
I also after taking out sticks and rocks I pull all the vegetation (leaves and needles onto the treadway) with any soil that was deposited.
The leaves and needles will get ground into dust fairly quickly and in the meantime they help by protecting rain drop spatter. Their is a name for that but I can't for the life of me remember the term.
 
Great initiative roadtripper! As a trail adopter myself, I strongly encourage people to "give back" and there is a fountain of information on your site to help achieving that. Thanks!
 
gas axe = chainsaw?

For the US Forest service, I know you need training for ax, chainsaw and cross-cut ax

The webspage has been updated quite a bit since yesterday with ideas from VFTT, various FB groups, US forest service, etc. Thanks to all who have pitched in!

http://newenglandwaterfalls.com/trailmaintenance.php

Training required for both axe and chainsaw use. Volunteers rarely sign up for or get chainsaw certs. I'm a volunteer trainer for the axe use program on WMNF. Trainings usually take place in the spring.
 
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