Trail Work at Forest Hill Park
This is old news but due to vacation and other things less fun taking up my time I missed it. There is a lot of work that is going to be done to parks trails system starting in January and finishing up by spring. Local groups including but not limited to the Friends of Forest Hill Park, The Forest Hill Civic Association and the Richmond Mid-Atlantic Off-Road Enthusiasts (mountain bikers) are working with Nathan Burrell, trails manager for the city’s Department of Parks, Recreation and Community Facilities, to cut 3 miles of new trails and to restore damage to others. (Full Article from RTD)
Most of that work will be handled by volunteers from the aforementioned groups. Two bridges will need to be built. Sensitive vegetation will be dug up and then replanted, as will saplings growing in the new trail corridor.
For Burrell and the city, the idea is to take what was singletrack used almost exclusively by mountain bikers and turn it into true multi-use trail for recreational users like trail runners, hikers and dog walkers, as well as mountain bikers.
“The goal is to create an environmentally, socially and a managerially sustainable loop system around Forest Hill Park,” he said.
Part of that means separating different user groups. So the new trail will intersect with the paved path around the lake as little as possible.
The full plan can be found on the Richmond MORE website here.
One of our loyal readers sent it to me but I can’t find the original email to thank him/her properly. So if you are reading this “Thanks” and please accept my apology for complete and utter email disorganization.
In related news I should have a slide show of a birds eye view of the lake restoration later this week.
Just to clarify, according to Nathan, the overall trail length in the park will be *reduced* from it’s current 3.5 miles to 3 miles, with slightly less than 1 mile of the shortened version being “new” trail. To say that 3 miles of new trails are to be created is somewhat misleading.
I’m very pleased to see that the many existing problems are to be addressed and that the new trail system will be sustainable.
The end result should be a trail that is more fun to use and much easier to maintain.
Stephanie is right on the mark. The new & improved trail will be more of a “traverse” of the hillside as opposed to the repeated up/down/double-back that’s there now. Much better for multi-use, much gentler to the land. Folks are going to be surprised at how nice it will be… Nathan REALLY knows his stuff.
Thanks for the clarification Stephanie.
Speaking of Forest Hill park – does anyone know who has been knitting scarves for the post outside of Crossroads & at least one tree on the trail in the lower park?
No names but James River News has a little info and great photos.
Love the knitted items.
I’m not sure what multi-use means, I know the mountain bikers will darn near kill anyone that dares walk the Buttermilk trail, which irritates me to no end. Weren’t bikers the inventors of “share the road”? Wish they’d share they trails
What mountain bikers are you talking about? I’m sorry you’ve had bad experiences. Most of us try really hard to be respectful of pedestrians, some of whom act like we have no business on the trails. A lot of the more recent (and nicest) sections of trail on Buttermilk were built by volunteer bikers. I don’t think a lot of people realize that.
I have had only good experiences with mountain bikers on Buttermilk and other Richmond trails.
I agree with Amblus. Most mt. bikers are gracious and aware of their surroundings. Problems have been discussed on the Richmond MORE web site and the consensus is that they look out for pedestrians as mush a possible. There are those who don’t but then again there are those who let their dogs run off leash or those who have their music up so loud the don’t know others are there.