State Trail Administrators Training Workshop
September 20-22, 2005

Final Agenda

Tuesday, September 20, 2005
STAM Business Meeting

Agenda Day 1

Bellevue State Park
Tuesday, September 20, 2005

Transportation between hotel and workshop site will be provided. Shuttle leaves hotel at 8:00 am. and returns at close of meeting.

Time: 9:30 am to 5:00 pm
Location: Bellevue Hall; Bellevue State Park, a 328 acre suburban park, once the estate of William H. du Pont, Jr.
Lunch: Provided
Dress: Comfortable clothes
Dinner: On your own

Wednesday, September 21, 2005
Featured Workshop - Sustainable Piedmont Trails

Time: 8:30 am to 4:30 pm
Location: White Clay Creek State Park. The park is an oasis of 3,384 scenic Piedmont Plateau acres, upland forests, 50 miles of trail and home to a National Wild & Scenic River.
Lunch: Box lunch provided

Morning - Walk and Talk. Small groups will hike the trails of White Clay Creek State Park and see examples of sustainable trail design, construction, and maintenance. You will hike about 2-3 miles of single track trail lead by a member of Delaware's Trail Crew. Informative discuss and opportunities to discuss all the ins and outs of achieving sustainable trails. Lunch will be in the field.

Afternoon - Small groups will be assembled to work on trail projects. Projects may include bridge building, general trail maintenance, or construction of single track trail.

What to bring & wear:

• Water
• Sturdy shoes or hiking boots
• Protection from the elements
• Gloves
• Clothes you don't mind getting dirty

Dinner: On your own.

Optional Evening Activities

Time: 6:30 or 7:00 to dusk

Delaware State Park staff will lead hikes and mountain bike rides in White Clay Creek State Park. Over 45-miles of trail. A limited number of mountain bikes are available. Additional bikes will be rented from Bike Line in Newark and brought to the park. If you plan to hike or walk, registration is required for a head count for shuttle from hotel to the park.

Thursday, September 22, 2005
Understanding Accessibility and Building Better Trails

The goal of this one-day workshop is to teach participants:

• current accessibility requirements and legal issues
• introduction to Universal Trail Assessment Process
• benefits of sustainable trail design
• analysis and problem solving for accessibility

Sustainability has many facets, including environmental, social and economic sustainability. Sustainable trails are better for the environment because they minimize trail impacts on the surrounding environment. Trail users of all abilities benefit from and contribute to the social sustainability of the trail. A broader spectrum of trail users builds more public support for the trail and the benefits that it provides. Sustainable trail design ensures a high probability of compliance with the proposed recreation trail accessibility guidelines. Sustainable trails are also better from an economic perspective because of the decreased costs for maintenance and environmental protection.

The agenda for the workshop is as follows:

08:00 - 09:30 - Sustainable Trail Design
09:30 - 10:30 - Accessibility and Legal Issues
10:30 - 10:45 - Break
10:45 - 12:00 - Introduction to Universal Trail Assessment Process
12:00 - 13:00 - Lunch
13:00 - 14:30 - On-the-Trail Practical Session
14:30 - 14:45 - Break
14:45 - 16:15 - Solving Participant Problems
16:15 - 16:30 - Q & A and wrap-up

The following are brief descriptions of each of the workshop sessions:

Sustainable Trail Design
This classroom presentation will examine current best practices in terms of the environmental, social and economic sustainability of trails. The benefits to the environment, land managers and trail users will be discussed.

Accessibility and Legal Issues
Updates on current proposals for recreation trail accessibility guidelines (Access Board and/or USDA Forest Service) will be presented. The match between "best practices" for sustainable trail design and these guidelines will also be discussed.

Universal Trail Assessment Process
This presentation will discuss the benefits of having objective measurements of the on-trail conditions for identifying and monitoring potential problems in terms of trail sustainability. Case studies will be used to illustrate the benefits of objective trail information for both users and land managers.

The Universal Trail Assessment Process (UTAP) objectively documents the actual conditions in outdoor, natural environments. The UTAP is a tool that land managers, agencies and individuals can utilize to learn about, monitor, improve and use any outdoor path of travel. (Source: www.beneficialdesigns.com)

On-the-Trail Practical Session
This session will allow participants to walk a trail with an eye to applying the information learned during the morning sessions. Evidence of poor sustainability on the trail will be identified, assessment measurement techniques will be demonstrated, and potential causes and remedies discussed.

Solving Participant Problems
Workshop participants will be given the opportunity to submit photos, maps and other materials that document a particular area of concern on their own trails. The primary concern must be related to the implications of the trail conditions for compliance with the proposed recreation trail accessibility guidelines. This session will present the problems submitted by workshop participants for discussion by the whole group and project recommendations from the workshop instructors.