How to get your land manager to embrace you

IMBA Trail News
Volume 12, Number 1
March 1999

Robert Ryan
JORBA/Master-Links Trail Maintenance Coordinator

Editor's Note: Although New Jersey has its share of trail-related conflict particularly close to New York City there is good news too. Many dedicated mountain bike advocates in the state are creating change for the better, as Bob Ryan describes in the following letter.

Here in New Jersey we've been facing conflicts with access to trails in parks, much like other places. Fortunately, we seem to have found a formula that can work.

The financing for New Jersey parks was established in such a way that the funds for park resources and land acquisition come out of the same bucket. The state is acquiring a lot more open space, which is good, but this has forced cuts in the budget for resource management. This leaves some parks with only a few rangers to cover a lot of territory. Some managers decided the path of least resistance was to simply close trails to cyclists in response to citizen complaints founded or unfounded.

With only a handful of activists carrying the banner for advocacy, the Jersey Off Road Bicycle Association (JORBA) focused on trail maintenance and bike patrols in just a few parks. The results have been fantastic! We became "joined at the hip" with the park supervisors in Round Valley, Ringwood and Allamuchy state parks.

Trail Maintenance

The key to our success is a documented plan. Prior to discussing trailwork with park managers, we assess the trails in each park, producing photographs and documentation of the areas that needed work. We gave each job a number and plot the location on a park map. We note the proposed corrective action and estimate the time to complete the task, the number of people and tools that are needed.

With this in hand we present our findings to the park supervisors and ask them to prioritize the jobs for completion. Our team performs trail maintenance bimonthly in the spring and monthly in the summer, so we are able to efficiently schedule maintenance. Government officials and land managers quickly learn that we are well-trained in trail maintenance techniques. All of our team members have been trained by IMBA's Trail Care Crews. We've created a bond with the Trail Care Crews and now they email us new technical solutions to help with out problems.

Upon completion of any trail maintenance day, we submit a written and electronic copy of what was completed, the number of people who worked and their hours.

Each park now receives a monthly update of trail conditions. This makes the supervisor look good (he or she gets the credit), plus the state awards grant money for volunteers that come in and work. At the end of the year we submit a spreadsheet showing all the hours worked (including dates and contact info for all volunteers).

Racers benefit because this is now documented and approved for Pay Dirt hours.

Bike patrols

The few rangers on patrol in these parks had to focus on the areas with the largest congregation of people, leaving remote trails unsupervised. All the better, you might say, but not really. You'd be amazed how many people (hikers, families, campers, fishermen, etc.) venture onto the trails totally unprepared and get lost or hurt.

On weekday evenings our patrols sweep the back trails. They look for stragglers and people lost or hurt. Most of the time we bump into other mountain bikers out training. Therefore, we are training as well the only difference is we are carrying 24-pound packs. At the end of each patrol, we call the main gate, report the patrol is completed, and let them know if there were any incidents.

Weekends are a different story because the parks are very busy. Round Valley has a large lake and wilderness camping. We patrol in teams, primarily from 9 a.m. to1 p.m. We deal with scrapes and bruises, flat tires, and repair bikes that have never been maintained. We assist lost campers, dehydrated hikers and so on. I have yet to do a weekend patrol that did not require a lengthy written report.

The path to new singletrack

All the feedback we've received on our bike patrols has been positive. Since we started wearing National Mountain Bike Patrol jerseys, people began stopping us just to ask what we're all about. They go out of their way to thank the rangers for the patrol.

The net result is that managers love working with us and remain open to suggestions we make. So we will be creating more than 10 miles of new singletrack this year. News of this success is spreading to other Jersey parks.

If you go in with a plan you can make the result a win-win. So get creative, start some trail maintenance programs and most importantly use the valuable resources IMBA supplies. If you're not a member, join today.

Ryan has offered to share his trailwork plan template; email him at: