TCC in Hawaii

IMBA Trail News
Volume 12, Number 1
March 1999

"The best way to manage conflict is to create places where you want mountain biking, not to just ban and regulate." -- Ric Balfour

Near Honolulu, volunteers from Hawaii Mountain Bike Advisory Committee replace a rotting log bridge with an armored stream crossing. Most of the people in this photo are bicycle police and volunteers from the U.S. Army.

 On a ten-day visit to Hawaii in October, Ric Balfour and Holly Hill, Subaru/ IMBA Trail Care Crew No.2, helped dozens of activists and land managers to fundamentally improve trail work and recreation management. This exciting and productive trip resulted from five months of planning by John Alford, IMBA's Hawaii representative. They visited three islands, a variety of public land units, and diverse landscapes.

Maui and the Big Island

On Maui, Ric and Holly met with the Maui Mountain Bike Association. In the Polipoli State Park they dealt with desert conditions where eorsion caused by wind had turned trailbeds to dust. They demonstrated drainage dip construction to a youth crew and rode across the face of Haleakala volcano.

On Hawaii, the Crew met with the Big Island Mountain Biking Association BIMBA and enjoyed a 22-person group ride within Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. A highlight of that ride was a section of slickrock on pahoehoe lava, a route created to avoid nesting areas of the nene, a Hawaiian goose. They met with five National Park Service rangers, including the park superintendent, and presented a slide show. "We explained IMBA, the clubs network, the state representative and TCC programs," Ric recalled. "We helped them see that mountain bikers enjoy more than roads, that a whole sector of the sport enjoys the challenge of singletrack trails. That desire for challenge is driving riders onto trails designated for hiking. The best way to manage the conflict is to create places where you want mountain biking, not to just ban and regulate.

"They agreed in principle that creating new singletracks is viable," Ric said.

In Hilo, Holly and Ric met with officials of the State Dept. of Land and Natural Resources to talk about developing bicycling trails on state forest lands. On the other side of the island in Kona, the Mayor hosted a meeting of local riders, bike shop owners, ranchers and a National Park Service ranger. The ranchers expressed interest in developing ecotourism opportunities through mountain biking.

Near Kona they visited the 1,160-acre Kaloko-onokohau National Historic Park, which includes a pre-European coastal trail that was built like a Roman road to circle the island. The eight-foot wide route is rough, strewn with rubble and in some places, lava. In this case, Ric and Holly recommended to the land manager that the best way to protect the trail and provide riding opportunities was to simply let cyclists wear in a smooth singletrack on the current surface.

The Trail Care Crew met with a stewardship group called Tropical Reforestation Ecosystem Education TREE. They gave advice on rerouting steep trail sections and making new links for better trips. While crawling through the jungle, " Native hawks, owls, and honey-eaters added to the experience, and wild passion fruit provided a tasty snack. But the 300-pound wild pig we met looked big enough to make a tasty snack out of us," Ric commented.

Oahu

On Oahu, they met with Eve DeCoursey, executive director of the Hawaii Bicycle League and had dinner with the state Director of Forest Management.

At the Aiea Nature Center, they encountered widespread use of recycled plastic lumber used as boardwalk planks, steps, and shallow crib walls. The plastic works in subtropical humidity where organic materials do not.

The biggest trail event occurred on day eight, when a large group of volunteers, including bicycle police from Honolulu and soldiers from Scoffield Army Base, replaced a dangerous, rotting log bridge with an armored stream crossing. That evening, the Hawaii Mountain Bike Advisory Committee held a volunteers recognition dinner. IMBA donated a large pile of shwag.

Fundamental lessons, and a goodbye

In general, Ric said that he and Holly were able to significantly assist the activists and land managers in Hawaii. They provided solid information on methods of managing trails for shared use, solving problems rather than banning bikes. "We also helped land managers gain a fundamental understanding of the higher importance of location and design, compared to regulating uses. We looked at a trail where bikes had been banned for four years. Initially, it was a temporary measure, but a new ranger decided to make the ban permanent. On inspection we found the trail in really bad shape anyway." Managing water is all important, and the crew explained the value of rolling grade dips, which last longer, require less maintenance, and provide a better travelway compared to water bars.

This was the last major trip for Ric and Holly, who will complete their tour of duty as TCC2 in March. This winter they have focused on writing for IMBA. They are crafting a handbook for trailworker volunteers and they are giving seminars in the Pacific Northwest. They will soon move on to new jobs and new challenges. They excelled as TCC2 and IMBA will miss them.

Ala Hele Hau'oli - Happy Trails.

For more information on Hawaii Mountain Biking contact John Alford; PO BOX 240170, Honolulu, Hawaii 96824; www.BIKEHAWAII.com .