The 2017 California Trails and Greenways Conference (CT&G) was an extra special conference for CORBA. CORBA has been involved with the conference for more than 25 years. The CT&G Conference brings together trail advocates, nonprofits, and land managers. California State Park employees are able to earn continuing education credits, and district trail coordinators from around the state meet here annually.
Steve Messer and Matt Baffert accept the Merit Award for Development
CORBA was nominated and received the Merit Award for Development for the Ken Burton Trail Restoration Project, which saw 100 volunteers put in over 1600 hours into the restoration of the trail last year. Accepting the award for CORBA were Steve Messer, who led the project, and Matt Baffert of the Mount Wilson Bicycling Association who contributed significantly to the project, and who were also the original builders of the trail in the early nineties.
Kurt Loheit, one of CORBA’s founders who led IMBA’s early involvement in trail design and construction, received a Lifetime Achievement Award for more than 25 years of volunteerism and trail advocacy. Kurt was instrumental in developing the trail design principles that have put IMBA at the forefront of sustainable trail design.
Also receiving a lifetime achievement award was Ron Webster, a Santa Monica Mountains Trails Council and Sierra Club trailbuilder who constructed over 35 miles of the Backbone Trail. The National Park Service received an award in the Acquisition category, for the acquisition of the last private property segments of the backbone trail just in time for the trail to be completed and designated a National Recreation Trail last year.
Steve Messer, CORBA’s President and trail crew leader, gave a presentation on the Teen Trail Corps with Austin McInerney, Executive Director of the National Interscholastic Cycling Association, and Laurel Harkness, IMBA’s California-Hawaii Regional Director. The presentation was streamed live on Facebook, and is archived there. The Teen Trail Corps is a joint project between IMBA and NICA, supported by REI, which encourages youth engagement in IMBA’s four tenets of mountain biking: Ride, Respect, Build, and Speak. It is based upon much of the work of CORBA with local high school teams.
Many California IMBA Chapters were represented at the Conference, which gave us a great opportunity to meet and discuss statewide matters of importance to the Mountain Biking community. The Chapters were also able to meet with Dave Wiens, IMBA’s new Executive Director, and discuss IMBA’s future, the Chapter program’s future, and the apparent disconnect between issues of importance to California mountain bikers and those of IMBA. Chapter leaders came away from the meeting encouraged and appreciative of Dave’s willingness to work with the Chapters.
Electric Mountain Bikes were a hot topic of discussion, with E-MTB manufacturers offering test rides during the conference and at Sea Otter. Currently State Parks allow Class I e-mtbs on any trails where bicycles are allowed. However, that policy is under review and may change. Federal land managers all consider e-MTBs as motorized, and restrict them to OHV approved routes also used by motorcycles, 4x4s and side-by-sides or quads. Local land managers policies vary across the state.
It was not coincidence that the conference was timed to allow conference attendees to then attend Sea Otter, which began the day after the conference. It made for a great week of advocacy, bike riding, and trail talk.
