Hey, guys - spent some time on the phone today with ToolsRUs regarding the current state of Adopt-A-Trail in AZ, and he had some great information to share. With his focus on Tonto (TRAL), the Mt Ord route FR626, northbound from 87 Beeline to the peak, isn't believed to be sponsored by any groups at this time, however there's a lot of question as to whether CSC would be able to adopt this trail, so read on.
(Kevin - please feel free to jump into the conversation if I've missed anything!)
Travel Management is reorganizing trails right now, and there's no formal 'Adopt-A-Trail' program which exists. This is partly due to contracting which takes place between the managing authority and clubs and takes into account liability concerns when a club chooses to maintain a trail. There's a lot of detail behind this, and CSC would need to make conscious decisions about any kind of trail work.
Existing club sponsorship of certain trails can continue - and nothing is being done to prevent trail maintenance by any club or organization if they've historically maintained that trail to good effect in the past. As mentioned above, Mt Ord FR626 is not known to be sponsored by any group currently.
New club sponsorship of trails is in a contested state - this is due to budgeting constraints by the managing authorities along with prioritization of routes across Tonto and surrounding areas which prevent any progress being made to formalize an Adopt-A-Trail program. No registry of trails and clubs which are interested in sponsoring them exists or has been proposed.
Unofficial club sponsorship of trails is done currently, and signage can be added to the trail to denote this if CSC wants to move forward with this route. Maintenance will need to be aligned with other groups despite not having a trail 'standard' applied to the route, nor with an acting contract between CSC and the managing authority, so basic tree trimming, bush cutbacks, and other cosmetic work can be done - but without any kind of dirt work or maintenance which may open the club to liability concerns if 'improvements' change the trail safety, hazards, or recreations. This last part is a bit gray, simply because no standards are in place by the managing authority about what can be done, and to what extent.
Work is apparently underway with Neil Bosworth, the Tonto Supervisor of Rangers & Staff, and may or may not come to a conclusion any time in the near future. There's a lot of uncertainty regarding the formalized process, but it looks like we may be able to move forward with a more relaxed and informal process to sponsor FR626 to Mt Ord by the club.
This should be discussed at length within the club to decide whether it's worth taking on the liability, adding our CSC name to trail markers, and other facets of sponsoring this route, so please post here with any thoughts you may have, and I'll do my best to answer based on what I know. Thanks,
(Kevin - please feel free to jump into the conversation if I've missed anything!)
Travel Management is reorganizing trails right now, and there's no formal 'Adopt-A-Trail' program which exists. This is partly due to contracting which takes place between the managing authority and clubs and takes into account liability concerns when a club chooses to maintain a trail. There's a lot of detail behind this, and CSC would need to make conscious decisions about any kind of trail work.
Existing club sponsorship of certain trails can continue - and nothing is being done to prevent trail maintenance by any club or organization if they've historically maintained that trail to good effect in the past. As mentioned above, Mt Ord FR626 is not known to be sponsored by any group currently.
New club sponsorship of trails is in a contested state - this is due to budgeting constraints by the managing authorities along with prioritization of routes across Tonto and surrounding areas which prevent any progress being made to formalize an Adopt-A-Trail program. No registry of trails and clubs which are interested in sponsoring them exists or has been proposed.
Unofficial club sponsorship of trails is done currently, and signage can be added to the trail to denote this if CSC wants to move forward with this route. Maintenance will need to be aligned with other groups despite not having a trail 'standard' applied to the route, nor with an acting contract between CSC and the managing authority, so basic tree trimming, bush cutbacks, and other cosmetic work can be done - but without any kind of dirt work or maintenance which may open the club to liability concerns if 'improvements' change the trail safety, hazards, or recreations. This last part is a bit gray, simply because no standards are in place by the managing authority about what can be done, and to what extent.
Work is apparently underway with Neil Bosworth, the Tonto Supervisor of Rangers & Staff, and may or may not come to a conclusion any time in the near future. There's a lot of uncertainty regarding the formalized process, but it looks like we may be able to move forward with a more relaxed and informal process to sponsor FR626 to Mt Ord by the club.
This should be discussed at length within the club to decide whether it's worth taking on the liability, adding our CSC name to trail markers, and other facets of sponsoring this route, so please post here with any thoughts you may have, and I'll do my best to answer based on what I know. Thanks,
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