Why A Managed Trail System?

Greg Mumm 

December  2003

Since the presentations regarding the trail system to the club last month, I have had an amazing number of people come up to me with questions. Because of that, I thought I would capitalize on the opportunity of this month’s newsletter to clarify a few things.

To begin with, most of those who have come to me with questions have "jumped" to conclusions that I am not entirely sure are warranted. What I am asserting in all this is to work cooperatively with the Forest Service to develop a trail system in the Black Hills. I am not proposing we close the forest.

The purpose for this is to establish a trail system and defining all the details of planning, maintaining and sustaining that trail system would entail before the forest closes. (Did I say that out loud? Yes I did and I will say it again just to be sure it gets said, …before the forest closes.) You see, the mistake that many are thinking in all this is that I am proposing we make the Black Hills a "closed unless posted open" forest. I am not.

Despite what I might think or be an advocate of, I think it is important to point out the change of "open unless posted closed" to "closed unless posted open" is, at this point, not up to me. Rather, it is an apparent eventual conclusion that current trends in management here and elsewhere in the country. It is not something that I necessarily want; it is simply something that I believe will eventually happen.

This has led me to push even harder now for establishing a trail system prior to that eventual end. I don’t want to see us end up working out of a hole to get a trail system "after the fact" as we have observed happening in so many areas of the country.

As added consideration, even if there is a reversal of the current trend toward closure, there are a great many benefits to establishing a trail system to be managed in an open forest as well. We all need to recognize the primary justification used to defend management’s trend toward closure in the first place, is misuse and abuse of the land. I contend that argument can be used because there is no adequate system in place to manage how you can recreate in the forest.

Establishing a trail system will provide productive solution to a perpetual dilemma. Misuse that comes as a result of lack of proper information in people’s hands will virtually go away. I also believe you will see a significant reduction in misuse that comes as a result of rebelling against being told you cannot do something simply by defining what you can do and where.