| How The Economy Might Affect Your Trail Riding By Laura Vonk |
If you are like me, the economy, which according to the daily news was supposed to be
doing well, is making it harder and harder for us to afford to go trail riding and camping. As
far as vacations go, equestrian camping and trail riding is an affordable way to spend your
days off. That still doesn't mean, however, that it's a cheap vacation.
There was a day, in the not too distant past, that we could afford to trailer to a close-by trail
every weekend to ride, camp somewhere slightly farther away every month, and once a
year go on one trip that was either on the other side of the state or out of state. Now we
can't afford to do that anymore. Personally, at this point, and this is only if things don't get
any worse, we're looking at only being able to afford to trailer somewhere locally to ride
maybe twice a month and camping somewhere a little farther two or three times a year.
Traveling out of state to ride, for us, is no longer a viable possibility. We, as individuals, are
not the only ones feeling the affects of higher gas prices, prices that have also started to
affect all the goods and services that we buy.
At this point all of the different management agencies might also start to feel the heat of a
difficult economy here in the United States. Some could get cuts in their budgets due to cuts
in federal funding. Others like the Missouri Dept. of Conservation, funded from state sales
tax dollars, might feel the pinch as people have less disposable income to spend and are
getting tighter with their dollars. All of this could conceivably continue to get worse now
after Hurricane Katrina. So how will that affect us Trail Riders?
Mark Twain National Forest areas are going to suffer dramatically. Not just in what they
provide for us Equestrians, but for everyone. They are going to have to close about a third
of their Recreation Areas. That in itself doesn't affect us, they were never open to horses
anyway, but it just goes to show how deeply they are being affected, and that everyone, not
just trail riders are losing out. We can fully expect the trails to have almost no maintenance
done to them by forest employees. If you want well maintained trails to ride, more
equestrians are going to have to step up to the plate to adopt trails and work to keep them
passable. You can also expect to find our trailhead and camping facilities to become more
sparse. If they have nothing there now, you can expect nothing to be added in the near
future. In some cases, places that have outhouses and picnic tables, will have them
removed. I have heard that's the case with the equestrian camping area at Paddy Creek
Wilderness. They've already taken out the manger they had there, the outhouse is next to
go. Lastly, places that suffer damage, like the outhouse that was burnt down at Kaintuck
Hollow, will in most cases, not be fixed or replaced.
With the exception of a new trail in the Angeline Conservation Area, The Missouri Dept. of
Conservation is planning to focus more time and available money into renovating and
improving existing trails and trailheads for a while. Special problem areas that need to be
addressed, like major renovation at Rudolf Bennett Conservation Area and trail re-routing
at Forest 44 will be priorities, while new trail development, although still possible, will be
taking more of a back seat at this point in time.
I have not heard a lot of specifics about how our State Parks are going to be affected. I
know that Cuivre River State Park is going to be spending some money on changes and
improvements there, but they are only being able and willing to do that because so many of
the local trail riders there have agreed to roll up their sleeves, get in there and supply the
manpower to get the work done.
I have heard nothing what-so-ever about the different County Park Equestrian Trails or the
Corp. of Engineer Trails. Common sense tells me that after Hurricane Katrina, the Corp. of
Engineers probably won't have any extra money to do anything with anyplace other than the
work they do down in the Gulf Area. It would not surprise me a bit if they end up having to
raise their camping rates but, I haven't had anyone tell me that was going to happen. I can
just see it happening.
As I hear and confirm information from the different areas, I'll list it here each month to try
and keep you all updated. In the mean time, there are a couple of easy things every
equestrian can do, even if you don't officially adopt an equestrian trail. As always, it would
be great if you can pick up trash along the trail and in the parking lots. We always bring an
extra trash bag with us for this purpose. As you are riding the trail, if you come upon a large
tree branch that fell over the trail, please consider getting off of your horse and moving it off
the trail instead of just riding around it. Obviously I'm not talking about downed trees here, I
mean the branches that sometimes fall across the trail. Some can be very large and might
even take two people to move safely, but most of them are move-able. Hank and I had
done that on one stretch of the Big Piney Trail in Paddy Creek Wilderness. There were a
large amount of downed limbs that were littering the trail in one section. We were able to
drag everyone of them off to one side or the other to clear the trail. In many cases they must
have been down for a year or so because the trail going around them were pretty well
marked. It didn't have to be that way though, because we didn't have any trouble moving
any of them.
The last few years had been a great time for expanding the amount of equestrian trails and
facilities, but the future could be looking a little bit leaner. Luckily, at this time, no trails are
scheduled to close due to any cut backs, but we will be losing some facilities and trails
could, if we allow them to, fall into a state of disrepair. The good news is, in most cases, we
have the choice and the power in our hands, to keep most of our trails open and in good
riding condition.
doing well, is making it harder and harder for us to afford to go trail riding and camping. As
far as vacations go, equestrian camping and trail riding is an affordable way to spend your
days off. That still doesn't mean, however, that it's a cheap vacation.
There was a day, in the not too distant past, that we could afford to trailer to a close-by trail
every weekend to ride, camp somewhere slightly farther away every month, and once a
year go on one trip that was either on the other side of the state or out of state. Now we
can't afford to do that anymore. Personally, at this point, and this is only if things don't get
any worse, we're looking at only being able to afford to trailer somewhere locally to ride
maybe twice a month and camping somewhere a little farther two or three times a year.
Traveling out of state to ride, for us, is no longer a viable possibility. We, as individuals, are
not the only ones feeling the affects of higher gas prices, prices that have also started to
affect all the goods and services that we buy.
At this point all of the different management agencies might also start to feel the heat of a
difficult economy here in the United States. Some could get cuts in their budgets due to cuts
in federal funding. Others like the Missouri Dept. of Conservation, funded from state sales
tax dollars, might feel the pinch as people have less disposable income to spend and are
getting tighter with their dollars. All of this could conceivably continue to get worse now
after Hurricane Katrina. So how will that affect us Trail Riders?
Mark Twain National Forest areas are going to suffer dramatically. Not just in what they
provide for us Equestrians, but for everyone. They are going to have to close about a third
of their Recreation Areas. That in itself doesn't affect us, they were never open to horses
anyway, but it just goes to show how deeply they are being affected, and that everyone, not
just trail riders are losing out. We can fully expect the trails to have almost no maintenance
done to them by forest employees. If you want well maintained trails to ride, more
equestrians are going to have to step up to the plate to adopt trails and work to keep them
passable. You can also expect to find our trailhead and camping facilities to become more
sparse. If they have nothing there now, you can expect nothing to be added in the near
future. In some cases, places that have outhouses and picnic tables, will have them
removed. I have heard that's the case with the equestrian camping area at Paddy Creek
Wilderness. They've already taken out the manger they had there, the outhouse is next to
go. Lastly, places that suffer damage, like the outhouse that was burnt down at Kaintuck
Hollow, will in most cases, not be fixed or replaced.
With the exception of a new trail in the Angeline Conservation Area, The Missouri Dept. of
Conservation is planning to focus more time and available money into renovating and
improving existing trails and trailheads for a while. Special problem areas that need to be
addressed, like major renovation at Rudolf Bennett Conservation Area and trail re-routing
at Forest 44 will be priorities, while new trail development, although still possible, will be
taking more of a back seat at this point in time.
I have not heard a lot of specifics about how our State Parks are going to be affected. I
know that Cuivre River State Park is going to be spending some money on changes and
improvements there, but they are only being able and willing to do that because so many of
the local trail riders there have agreed to roll up their sleeves, get in there and supply the
manpower to get the work done.
I have heard nothing what-so-ever about the different County Park Equestrian Trails or the
Corp. of Engineer Trails. Common sense tells me that after Hurricane Katrina, the Corp. of
Engineers probably won't have any extra money to do anything with anyplace other than the
work they do down in the Gulf Area. It would not surprise me a bit if they end up having to
raise their camping rates but, I haven't had anyone tell me that was going to happen. I can
just see it happening.
As I hear and confirm information from the different areas, I'll list it here each month to try
and keep you all updated. In the mean time, there are a couple of easy things every
equestrian can do, even if you don't officially adopt an equestrian trail. As always, it would
be great if you can pick up trash along the trail and in the parking lots. We always bring an
extra trash bag with us for this purpose. As you are riding the trail, if you come upon a large
tree branch that fell over the trail, please consider getting off of your horse and moving it off
the trail instead of just riding around it. Obviously I'm not talking about downed trees here, I
mean the branches that sometimes fall across the trail. Some can be very large and might
even take two people to move safely, but most of them are move-able. Hank and I had
done that on one stretch of the Big Piney Trail in Paddy Creek Wilderness. There were a
large amount of downed limbs that were littering the trail in one section. We were able to
drag everyone of them off to one side or the other to clear the trail. In many cases they must
have been down for a year or so because the trail going around them were pretty well
marked. It didn't have to be that way though, because we didn't have any trouble moving
any of them.
The last few years had been a great time for expanding the amount of equestrian trails and
facilities, but the future could be looking a little bit leaner. Luckily, at this time, no trails are
scheduled to close due to any cut backs, but we will be losing some facilities and trails
could, if we allow them to, fall into a state of disrepair. The good news is, in most cases, we
have the choice and the power in our hands, to keep most of our trails open and in good
riding condition.
| Copyright 2006 Missouri Trailblazing.com. All Rights Reserved |
| If this information was helpful to you, please help support Missouri Trailblazing: |
| We Thank you!!! |