It’s been an unusual summer for trail work. Aside from an early spring trail day or two, most of our work on trails this year has been a solitary effort—one person in the forest making a difference.
Despite the challenges a lot has been accomplished over the past few months. Several miles of new trail has been added to our roster. New maps have been drawn, new signs installed. Old features have been repaired, and new fun features built. So far, more than 1,200 hours of trail work have been reported on MCMBA trails by 90 different volunteers—pretty amazing all things considered. Our trails are in great shape thanks to many talented hands.
Our Trail Coordinators have had to work very differently this year. In lieu of trailwork days to coordinate work, some have used email lists or small Facebook groups to coordinate individual work and update trail workers on status and progress. Some anticipated work just has to wait, such as large bridge building projects that are best done with teams of people working together, so those projects are on hold.
Early in the year, the MCMBA board passed a budget that included more than $30,000 of spending to support trail projects both big and small: new bridges, lots of armoring materials, new trail kiosks, signs, bike repair stands, and so forth. The dollars we spend come from memberships, donations, and most especially our fundraising events. This year saw the Tree Farm Relay, the Demo Day, and our Bike Fest cancelled.
The MCMBA is a well-managed and tended organization, and we will weather this storm and continue our mission unabated. Still, we could always use more help:
- Get Involved With Your Local Trail
If you’d like to get involved in trail work, please reach out to your favorite trail coordinator to see if there are opportunities for individual work – you can find them all on our contacts page at http://mcmba.org/index.php/contact-page - Become a Member
If you’re not a member, please consider joining us at https://www.imba.com/join/chapter/mcmba - Contribute Financially
If you like our work and are able to financially contribute, donations are always appreciated at http://mcmba.org/index.php/get-involved/donate
Thank you for all of your support.