[The Kansas Trails Council in Action Series]

After lengthy discussion during the April, 2000 KTC board meeting the board voted to undertake this as a pilot project to determine the feasibility and practical value of investing money in this idea as a way to increase public awareness of KTC and its work.

I take credit for this project only in so far as expressing concern over the lack of public awareness of the role that KTC, its membership and its volunteers have played over the years in the creation and maintenance of many Kansas trails. It was my contention that most of the visitors to our trails were unaware of the fact that they were not built by personnel of the Corps of Engineers or State Parks, but rather by KTC and its volunteers.

Case in point:

All too frequently while I was building the Eagle Rock Mountain Bike Trail and during routine maintenance of the trail I have had visitors to the trail stop and strike up a conversation with me that more or less followed this sequence:

Visitor-- "Hey, this is a great trail the Park has put in here. How long have you been working for them?"

Rocky-- "I do not work for the State Park. I am volunteering my time to build this trail."

Visitor-- "Man, that looks like hard work. How much are they paying you to get you to do this?" (The visitor obviously was not listening closely to my answer to his first question.)

Rocky-- No one is paying me to do this. This is a volunteer project that I took on with the support of the Kansas Trails Council and the director at Elk City State Park.

Visitor-- Oh, wow! Thanks for helping out with this! It is a great trail. They [here I am to assume that "they" is a reference to the park service] have done a great job on the trail.

They ride on. I shake my head and continue to work on the trail!

______________________________________________________________________

Never assume that I have made this up. It is almost verbatim a conversation that I have had with first time visitors to the trail on more than one or two occasions. On none of these occasions were they trying to be "cute" with me. Most people that visit any trail simply believe that personnel of the Corps and State Parks build the trails. It is a mind set that they have which is hard to overcome.  Most of them simply are not aware of the fact that these governmental agencies do not have the budget or the manpower for trail projects.

______________________________________________________________________

The Kansas Trails Council was formed some twenty-five years ago for the expressed purpose of organizing volunteers to build these trails. The Council understood from its inception that permission would be granted to construct these trails only if strict guidelines were created and followed in the construction of the trail to protect the soil and ecological system of the area in question. These have always been concerns of the Kansas Trails Council, and these guidelines would have been adhered to even without the insistence of the Corps, the Department of Wildlife and Parks, and/or county governments where the trails have been constructed.

_______________________________________________________________________

The "last straw" for me came when my brother, Robert,  board member Phil Morris and I returned to the trail head after walking some ten miles lugging carsonite mile markers and the heavy and cumbersome tools that were used to install them on the Elk River Hiking Trail.

[There is a link to an article related to that project on the KTC in action page that you just came from.]

When we got to the trailhead there was a small group of scouts with their adult leaders resting there after returning from an overnight backpacking trip on the trail. We struck up and conversation with them. They noticed the tools and queried us on what we had been doing. They acknowledged the fact that they had noticed the mile markers and thought it was a great addition to the trail. Then it was same old story. They expressed appreciation for the trail and the "great job that the Corps had done on it!"

It was at this point in time that I finally realized that it was time for us to do something to educate the public about our work. There is after all no reason to assume that even frequent visitors to the trail are going to understand its origins. In fact since I became involved in the Council and built the Eagle Rock Mountain Bike Trail, I have a much better understanding of how trails come into existence. I have also thought much about the many trails that I have been on over the years across the country, and I have a much greater understanding and appreciation for those trails and the people that created them. Hundreds of voluntary man-hours undoubtedly went into the development and maintenance of the majority of them. Never again can I assume that people were paid to build the public trails on which I find myself.

I also acknowledge the fact that I myself was not familiar with KTC five years ago and consequently was not aware that they were largely responsible for the trails at Elk City Lake.  This fact alone was enough to prompt me to push for increased public awareness KTC and its efforts.  I had been on these trails many times totally unaware of those whom I had to thank for the trails which had taken hundreds of hours to create and maintain.

___________________________________________________________________

The signs are now in place on trailheads on the Elk River Trail and the Elk City State Park trailhead for the Table Mound Trail with new sign-in boxes and weatherproof boxes for KTC information brochures.

At the August, 2000 board of directors meeting the consensus was that it is a project with merit and the board voted to fund signs for some of the trails at Tuttle Creek Lake and Perry Lake. My personal vision is to have these signs in place on all trails supervised and maintained by KTC.

It should be pointed out that the Corps of Engineers at Elk City Lake approved the project and appreciated its merit to the extent that they supplied the materials for the posts and boxes. This fact underscores once more the respect that governmental agencies have for the work of KTC and the spirit of cooperation that exists between them and the Council. Governmental agencies do not build trails but they certainly do determine whether a trail may be built or not, and once permission is granted they have strict guidelines that must be adhered to.

The next time that you are on one of our trails remember and appreciate that the trail is the result of a joint vision between the Corps of Engineers, the Department of Wildlife and Parks or a county government and KTC. Please remember also that hundreds of voluntary hours by KTC members and volunteers made it a reality.

(Click on the Thumbnail)

The Kansas Trails Council--Working for Kansas Trails