Courtesy of the folks working the Adams Nature Preserve in Sioux City and applicable to all groomed ski trail across Iowa.This is the third year for groomed trails at Adams Nature Preserve in Sioux City. It has been an evolutionary process in many respects. It started with a friend and I securing some low budget equipment and a hand shake deal from the park to allow us to groom the trails. Since that time, a four stroke utility sled with equipment from YTS has been purchased. All of the grooming is run through our club which was qualified as a 501(c)(3). I receive contributions, many unsolicited, almost daily. We also negotiated a deal with our park where part of the trails are cross country ski only. Since we groom all of the trails, this is a "win-win" for everyone since the trails would be nearly impassable for walkers but for the grooming. In the end, our trail system has been great example of a public-private partnership. Yesterday, I saw at least 60 skiers on the trails and the parking lot is almost always full on the weekends.
Like many of the posters have indicated, education has been the key for limiting damage to the groomed trails. This year, we upgraded our signage which has significantly helped to educate non-ski trail users. Below are the signs I designed after finding a few examples online. They are metal signs with vinyl graphics and are reflective. They were about $50 per sign to have made locally. The signs were mounted to a post and placed in a five gallon buck with about 6 inches of concrete to secure the post. This has made them easy to transport and move while grooming.
We have not taken any position on dogs and frequently see them on our trails. The damage caused by dogs is insignificant when compared to the deer and walkers. Frankly, our groomed trail system exists at the pleasure of the Park so we have been careful to create as little friction as possible with non-skiers. Interestingly, now that our snow is thigh deep in areas, we have essentially created deer highways on parts of our system.
If anyone wants the contact information for the sign company that produced our signs, just e-mail me at cmccullough at craryhuff.com. Cody McCullough
Like many of the posters have indicated, education has been the key for limiting damage to the groomed trails. This year, we upgraded our signage which has significantly helped to educate non-ski trail users. Below are the signs I designed after finding a few examples online. They are metal signs with vinyl graphics and are reflective. They were about $50 per sign to have made locally. The signs were mounted to a post and placed in a five gallon buck with about 6 inches of concrete to secure the post. This has made them easy to transport and move while grooming.
We have not taken any position on dogs and frequently see them on our trails. The damage caused by dogs is insignificant when compared to the deer and walkers. Frankly, our groomed trail system exists at the pleasure of the Park so we have been careful to create as little friction as possible with non-skiers. Interestingly, now that our snow is thigh deep in areas, we have essentially created deer highways on parts of our system.
If anyone wants the contact information for the sign company that produced our signs, just e-mail me at cmccullough at craryhuff.com. Cody McCullough
