Sunday, July 26, 2009

Pictures of the Horse Damage on Shale Run and Preserve Line Trail

Here is the link to pictures of the horses on soft singletrack. These pictures were shared with DCNR and the Lykens Watershed for erosion concerns in the West Branch of Rattling Creek. We plan to also talk directly to DCNR.

Please, keep the comments non-confrontational. Our intent is NOT to prevent anyone from using the public land -- but to work with the landowners to conserve the land. There are many, many miles of trails that can appropriately be used by numerous user groups. Last year's equestrian event was ideal -- we worked directly with Jim Theurer to develop the course to prevent any trail damage and it worked out fine. We were not contacted for this year's event, thus, trail damage on soft singletrack. We've never had any issues with horses using the snowmobile trails which are built to sustain the horse traffic.

I also have to make one more personal comment to the horse folks. I was raised on a horse farm and still live near the horses. I have all the respect in the world for these beautiful creatures and certainly hold nothing against the horses. This is simply a situation of the mountain biking club trying to maintain the quality of the trail system they volunteered hundreds of hours building.

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