Fence-work for Trail-Days
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Fence-work for Trail-Days
Admin Thu Nov 06, 2008 11:12 pm
In speaking with the owners of Freedom Cycle today I heard a great idea that I simply had never even considered; communication with farmers / ranchers and offering to repair sections of old fences, gates etc. on their property.
Considering that we pass through, over and under them more than any animal in the forest, I suggest that such a project is way overdue... that - and it’d be an amazing gesture of cooperation and good-juju! I for one know that I see a lot of buggered up fences / posts and sometime gates on my forest expeditions. In the future we should all make mental notes of the locations and work that needs to be done (post notices here), as this information will come in very handy for repair-days. For those of us who carry GPS devices on rides; mark the damaged areas you see in order to enable easy relocation in the future. Ranchers have literally thousands of linear kilometres of fencing to deal with – and given the amount of blow-down we see in the forest every year, coupled with post-rot and a million other structural/erosion factors, you can see how a project such as this would be enthusiastically embraced by land-managers.
This simple act would be very easy to accomplish as a once or twice-yearly 'fencing day' event – just another aspect of trail-maintenance and development. I've strung more than my fair share of fence as lad growing up in the prairies; its vaguely tough work; but definitely not more difficult than riding up 1000+' of vert' on a bike - and many of us do that once or twice a week! The wire doesn't even have to be barbed - I'm seeing a lot of plastic-cord used to string bush-fences these days; that stuff is dead-easy to put up compared to barbed-wire.
Think of the good karma such an annual or biannual trail-day event would generate between our riding community and the land stewards whose property we cross so often; it'd be mega! They supply the materials, we supply the labour.
Andrew D.
Considering that we pass through, over and under them more than any animal in the forest, I suggest that such a project is way overdue... that - and it’d be an amazing gesture of cooperation and good-juju! I for one know that I see a lot of buggered up fences / posts and sometime gates on my forest expeditions. In the future we should all make mental notes of the locations and work that needs to be done (post notices here), as this information will come in very handy for repair-days. For those of us who carry GPS devices on rides; mark the damaged areas you see in order to enable easy relocation in the future. Ranchers have literally thousands of linear kilometres of fencing to deal with – and given the amount of blow-down we see in the forest every year, coupled with post-rot and a million other structural/erosion factors, you can see how a project such as this would be enthusiastically embraced by land-managers.
This simple act would be very easy to accomplish as a once or twice-yearly 'fencing day' event – just another aspect of trail-maintenance and development. I've strung more than my fair share of fence as lad growing up in the prairies; its vaguely tough work; but definitely not more difficult than riding up 1000+' of vert' on a bike - and many of us do that once or twice a week! The wire doesn't even have to be barbed - I'm seeing a lot of plastic-cord used to string bush-fences these days; that stuff is dead-easy to put up compared to barbed-wire.
Think of the good karma such an annual or biannual trail-day event would generate between our riding community and the land stewards whose property we cross so often; it'd be mega! They supply the materials, we supply the labour.
Andrew D.
Admin- Admin
- Posts : 1401
Join date : 2008-10-29 -
Palmer Sather - Mice & Campbell Mt
Admin Thu May 14, 2009 8:19 pm
Met with Palmer Sather - the fellow who holds leases on sections of two of our favorite riding spots; The Mice and parts of Campbell Mt., about setting up an annual Bike Club 'Fence Mending Day'. he was amazed that we'd offer this and was admirably pleased to hear the idea proposed.
He and I are going to get together in the near future and do some horse back riding in these areas in order to get to the spots in question. He's no spring chicken, but still rides every day - and I welcome the opportunity to horse-back ride - its one of the few things in life as cool as Mt. Biking!
I'll then GPS mark the locations in question and arrange a fall work day.
This are the types of activities that will keep us onside with the ranching community and assure us long-term access to the vast collection of ranchlands in our valley. It may seem like “too much work” to some, but the long-term payoff is priceless.
Andrew D.
He and I are going to get together in the near future and do some horse back riding in these areas in order to get to the spots in question. He's no spring chicken, but still rides every day - and I welcome the opportunity to horse-back ride - its one of the few things in life as cool as Mt. Biking!
I'll then GPS mark the locations in question and arrange a fall work day.
This are the types of activities that will keep us onside with the ranching community and assure us long-term access to the vast collection of ranchlands in our valley. It may seem like “too much work” to some, but the long-term payoff is priceless.
Andrew D.
Admin- Admin
- Posts : 1401
Join date : 2008-10-29 -
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