An update on the situation out at Tokul East.
I was recently contacted by the lead forester for Hancock Forest Resources, the company that owns most of the Tokul East, Tokul West, and Griffin Creek areas. The folks at Hancock were concerned about recent trail building activity that included some TTFs such as ladder bridges, dirt jumps and drops. As a result, Hancock posted several trails as closed to public access.
The folks I talked to at Hancock were pleasant, and indicated they welcome public use of their land as long as the use stays within their guidelines.
I was told that Hancock does allow non-motorized public access to their land. However, they do not allow any trail structures to be built out there. Their insurance policy does cover public recreation, but does not cover any improvements or trail features.
I put the word out to local trail builders and let those folks decide how to proceed. The people active at Tokul understand Hancock's needs, and are going to go out there and clean up the trails to fit within Hancock's use guidelines. As a result, Hancock will take down the closure signs once the trail features are removed and cleaned up.
It is important to note that there is consensus from the local trail builders about how to deal with the trails out there. They understand that keeping access to the trails means that future trails must be dirt-only. Any decommissioning of the features out there is fully supported by the local builders, and they are probably participating in the clean up of those trails.
I think Hancock will probably remove the closure signs after they see that the TTFs have been removed and new features haven't sprung up to replace them. I'm pretty sure that someone will update the BBTC trail guide as soon as the closure signs are gone - keep on eye on there for when we can start riding the closed trails again.
Trail Guide: http://bbtc.org/trails/
Let me know if you have any questions about this, but the long and short of it is that local riders are working to keep those trails open to bikes.
Justin
justin (at) bbtc.org
206-524-2900 - the BBTC World Headquarters
I was recently contacted by the lead forester for Hancock Forest Resources, the company that owns most of the Tokul East, Tokul West, and Griffin Creek areas. The folks at Hancock were concerned about recent trail building activity that included some TTFs such as ladder bridges, dirt jumps and drops. As a result, Hancock posted several trails as closed to public access.
The folks I talked to at Hancock were pleasant, and indicated they welcome public use of their land as long as the use stays within their guidelines.
I was told that Hancock does allow non-motorized public access to their land. However, they do not allow any trail structures to be built out there. Their insurance policy does cover public recreation, but does not cover any improvements or trail features.
I put the word out to local trail builders and let those folks decide how to proceed. The people active at Tokul understand Hancock's needs, and are going to go out there and clean up the trails to fit within Hancock's use guidelines. As a result, Hancock will take down the closure signs once the trail features are removed and cleaned up.
It is important to note that there is consensus from the local trail builders about how to deal with the trails out there. They understand that keeping access to the trails means that future trails must be dirt-only. Any decommissioning of the features out there is fully supported by the local builders, and they are probably participating in the clean up of those trails.
I think Hancock will probably remove the closure signs after they see that the TTFs have been removed and new features haven't sprung up to replace them. I'm pretty sure that someone will update the BBTC trail guide as soon as the closure signs are gone - keep on eye on there for when we can start riding the closed trails again.
Trail Guide: http://bbtc.org/trails/
Let me know if you have any questions about this, but the long and short of it is that local riders are working to keep those trails open to bikes.
Justin
justin (at) bbtc.org
206-524-2900 - the BBTC World Headquarters
oster_oops::huh:
