2008 Trails Preservation Workshop

Friday & Saturday, March 14 & 15, 2008

Introduction
Workshop Overview
Registration
Agenda
Learn More
Questions?
Partners

Introduction

Are trails important to you?  Have you witnessed the development of the modern world erase trails from the past?  Would you like to know how to distinguish a historic 19th Century wagon track from a late 20th Century jeep road?

The Oregon-California Trails Association (OCTA), Arizona State Parks, Arizona State Parks Foundation, Bureau of Land Management and National Park Service are partnering to provide this Trails Preservation Workshop. This two-day training focuses on three main components of trails preservation:  monitoring, mapping, and marking trails. 

Friday, March 14th – Classroom Session at the Bureau of Land Management National Training Center
(9828 North 31st Avenue, Phoenix, AZ 85051, Phone: 602.906.5500)

The first day is a classroom session limited to 50 attendees. In the classroom we will cover mapping, marking and monitoring historic trails. The mapping session will cover identification and classification in addition to mapping techniques. The marking session will demonstrate marking options and marker documentation while the monitoring session will review applicable laws and regulations and suggest programs for keeping watch over activities that may impact the trails

Saturday, March 15th – Field Session – Maricopa Pass, Sonoran Desert National Monument

The second day, limited to 20 attendees, is a field trip to Maricopa Pass (part of the Sonoran Desert National Monument) to better understand the concepts – this area has several identifiable historic routes (Anza, Mormon Battalion, Butterfield) and has the current realities of urban encroachment and OHV use. While this workshop is designed for historic trails, many of the methods can pertain to other trails striving for preservation.

Workshop Overview

The presenters, Dave Welch and Leslie Fryman, are Preservation Officers for the Oregon-California Trail Association (OCTA) and are doing this type of trails preservation training under a Challenge Cost Share Grant from the National Park Service.  The sessions cover three aspects of trail preservation: mapping, marking, and monitoring (the 3Ms), and includes one day of lectures and classroom discussions, followed with a session in the field to highlight the topics.

OCTA’s Mapping Emigrant Trails (MET) Guide is the basis for the mapping portion of the program. The MET guide describes techniques for identifying, classifying and documenting emigrant trails. Types of trails (ruts, swales and traces) are defined by a set of classifications (Class 1 through Class 5) to help determine the quality of the resource. Preservation efforts are usually focused on the highest quality remnants, Classes 1 through 3.

The mapping program also includes instruction on the use of USGS maps for documenting trails, both in paper and computer-based formats. Instruction also includes use of Global Positioning System (GPS) units for documenting the trail location on maps.

Monitoring is the process whereby volunteers keep track of what is happening to the trails by periodic visits and photo documentation. The training program includes information on laws and regulations that protect historic resources and how they are applied. Interactions with both public and private landowners are examined.

The approach to trail marking is the one used by OCTA,  “Trail Marking Policy,” that organization’s official guide to markers and their placement. Markers include carsonite posts, Novalloy interpretive panels, and others. The contents of the marker policy and procedures for selecting, designing and installing a marker are reviewed.

In the field session, the lessons learned in the classroom are tested in the field. Students map and classify a trail segment applying MET techniques and establish marking and monitoring plans.

Preservation training is open to anyone who is interested, and/or, seriously considering involvement in one of the three M’s (mapping, marking, and monitoring).  It is designed to offer something for trail users of all capabilities and interests.

Registration

Download Printable Registration Form with instructions. ( 13 KB PDF)

Agenda*

Download Printable Agenda ( 88 KB PDF)

*Agenda subject to change

Learn More

Want to learn more about trail preservation? Download a sample of the Utah Crossroads Chapter of the Oregon/California Trails Assoication's past newsletter. Filled with informative articles, this 8-page newsletter will help educate you about some of the issues surrounding trail preservation.

Download Newsletter ( 370 KB PDF)

Questions?

For more information or questions contact:
Annie McVay, Arizona State Parks 602.542.7116 or
Bill Gibson, Bureau of Land Management 602.417.9425 or
trails@azstateparks.gov

Partners

This 2-day workshop is a partnership of the following groups. Visit their respective websites for more information and get involved!

Oregon-California Trails Association (OCTA)	Arizona State Parks	Arizona State Parks Foundation

Bureau of Land Management	National Park Service