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7.1. PRSR 02-10-2016 hi Request for Action River To Item Number Parks and Recreation Commission 7.1 Agenda Section Meeting Date Prepared by Discussion Items February 10,2016 Michael Hecker,Parks and Recreation Director Item Description Reviewed by Hillside Park Report for 2015 Cal Portner,City Administrator Reviewed by Action Requested For discussion Background/Discussion The amount of work completed at Hillside Park is tremendous. The Park Steward of Hillside,Sue Seeger,completed a report for 2015. Dirtwirx referred to in the report is the name of the group of volunteers who work at the park on a regular basis year-round. Sue Seeger plans to attend the Commission meeting to provide an overview of her report and answer any questions. Financial Impact None Attachments • Hillside Parks Report(Dirtwirx Report 2015) POIEIEI Ir NATURE DirtWirx Report 2015: Trail repairs&rebuilds(23 total) Hours:Approx 850 (minimum) About this work: Prioritizing rebuilds&repairs at Hillside is tricky. Someone inexperienced could easily mistake well-loved rough areas for things that"need to be fixed". This would upset many of our users. This year heavy spring rains damaged many sections of older trail so we had more repairs to do than usual. With Hillside's unique topography, terrain, and poor soil quality,we often have to combine methods we've developed ourselves with other trail building techniques we've learned through IMBA(the international mountain biking association),the DNR, and ideas other trails around the country are trying. DirtWirx has been building at Hillside for over 10 years now, and having a working knowledge of what we've tried in different areas already is extremely helpful. It was a tough year erosion-wise but we made a lot of headway. Hillside is known for being a standout trail among the now 15 mtb trails around the metro area; known for being a challenging, technical, natural trail, in contrast to the many flow trails which are becoming the norm. It is the reason people drive to Elk River from all over the metro—to find that different type of riding only we offer. That overarching philosophy guides all our work at the trail. Trees cleared from the trail (75 minimum) (possibly more) Hours: Approx 450 About this work: When trees go down on the trail it is usually pretty time sensitive to remove them asap for the safety of users. An in-depth knowledge of the park's layout and shorthand for locations along with the over 10 years of experience our crew has doing this together makes us very efficient. We can work through a fairly large list of trees because logistically we plan ahead, know all the fastest routes,and have worked together so much doing this work it goes relatively fast. I might add, we have been doing it for over 10 years without one single injury ever. There have been big storms the night before events that have required us to be at the trail at 4 a.m. cutting trees off the trail. One benefit of our crew is that we're able to work any time of the day,and any day of the week. Without that flexibility,the trail would have to be closed more often and events would have had to been cancelled. Routine maintenance Hours: Approx 175(minimum) About this work: Trimming back brush,weed whipping trail edges, blowing leaves/debris off the trail, sand removal, picking up trash; all of these tasks sound simple, but we've found ways of doing them all that save us tons of labor. Some of our practices are counter-intuitive, but other trails now copy them. Every new volunteer has to be trained on how we specifically want each task performed. Something as simple as shoveling sand off the trail needs to be done a specific way. Shoveling down the trail, instead of across,or digging into the trail surface below the sand build-up, using a spade instead of a square shovel, piling the removed sand in the wrong spot,or failing to address the drainage issue are all mistakes that turn a vital task into a worse problem. Whipping down the vegetation along trail edges, if done incorrectly, can spur re-growth, or exacerbate erosion,or over-widen the trail. Some weeds we want left as a"cover crop" because we've determined their height works well for us. These tasks may sound simple, but like everything at Hillside,there are specific ways things need to be managed, to make them work for an mtb trail in the most efficient way possible. Grooming the trail for winter use Hours: Approx 60 About this work: Machine grooming takes place at night, so that the trail has some time to settle and hopefully pack a bit before people begin trying to use it. If this is done during daylight hours people immediately start riding/walking on it and win the entire groom and it has to be redone. This is also a job that requires experience. Steady controlled speeds need to be maintained so the tracks are not digging up the trail rather than packing it, and you have to know where there are roots, rocks, logs etc under the snow that may damage a track. The sleds have to be finessed over these obstacles so that they are not damaged. There are also certain spots the sleds have to be lifted over things or around tight turns. This has to be done in teams of 2 people with in-depth knowledge of the trail who are very experienced in driving snomobiles. This is a skilled job, not just a matter of going for a "fun ride"through the woods. Sometimes the trail requires packing by snowshoes in advance of the sleds in deep snow. This requires either a team of 2, or 1 person going over the same trail twice alternating footprints. Needless to say this is very time consuming and tiring. Features such as skinnies require shoveling off by hand. Like most jobs at Hillside, knowing all the shortcuts through the woods makes everything go faster. Our crew pioneered preparing the trail for winter riding years before it became popular. We held the first winter mountain bike race in the state 10 years ago! We have had trails as far away as Alaska contact us for advice about how best to groom trails for winter riding. Other projects and tasks Dual slalom More improvements were made to this ongoing major project this year and the first race was held in June,which people drove all the way from Duluth to attend, on a Wed night. It is the only dual slalom mtb course in the state currently and we are very fortunate to have expert riders on our crew qualified to build this. Held 6 races including a state series race and a 25 hour race Others included a time trial, short track,the afore mentioned dual slalom and the historic winter race we pioneered 10 years ago that continues to be a favorite with racers from all over the region. Each of these races requires many hours of preparation on the organizational level (communication with sponsors, securing prizes, promotion, planning the course, organizing volunteers&vendors, etc)and physical on the ground work—marking the course properly, setting up the registration and timing areas, dealing with parking, emceeing,etc. The winter race requires huge amounts of firewood be collected from all over the park, split and stacked for multiple bonfires. Our crew made a fire ring as well as several fire barrels and donated them to the park. Holding events like this can only be done successfully with very experienced race directors running the show in cooperation with a very dedicated trail crew. The races are one of the park's most powerful promotional tools. People come from all over the state to race at Hillside, and they buy gas and eat and shop in Elk River when they do. It has been said Hillside wins"mean more". I should add that our sponsors support racing at Hillside specifically because of DirtWirx's, and our race director Rich Omdahl's reputation and credibility in the mtb community and they have made this very clear to us. Researching dirt You read that right. Dirt, is apparently, not just dirt, but comes in many forms and configurations. This year,the type we've been getting from Plaistad's for the last 10 years ran out and had to be replaced with something new. A lot of time was spent meeting with Plaistad's trying to find the right formula for Hillside. This involved several trips to their plant to inspect dirt piles in person to ensure the city did not waste money on dirt that would not be suitable for our uses. It was much more complicated than we imagined but we have it nearly dialed in now. Tool modification One of the tools we use most is called a McLeod. It's a tool for packing dirt. The large nut on the bottom has always been problematic, so this year I finally just took them all home and removed the nut and welded the bottom plates to the handles and repainted them. No charge. Educational efforts This is one of the most important tasks we have in terms of protecting the trail and enhancing users experiences at the trail. Each year we put a lot of thought into how we can improve our signage and hand-outs educating users on trail conditions&rules, as well as proper trail etiquette &safe trail use guidelines. A lot of our communications are being adopted by other trails. We already have ideas for how to improve this even more in 2016. Online communications DirtWirx enjoys a large, loyal online following and our trail users depend on us to provide up to date and accurate information on all things Hillside related. Many of our volunteers are recruited from following our online posts. They go from fans,to helpers. Neighborhood outreach Early this year a resident suggested we do a better job letting our park neighbors know what is going on at the trail, so to that end we went door to door to every single residence bordering the park and distributed a hand-out explaining who we are and what work we do at the park, along with contact info encouraging them to contact us with any concerns or questions. We want them to care about the park and be involved. People really liked this. It led to a couple of follow-up visits at the request of residents asking questions about things near their property, and we even got a new volunteer out of the deal. We will probably be creating an email list or facebook group for these folks in 2016 so they can be kept in the loop. Procurement of donated items Every year supporters come along who want to donate materials to the park. This is not incredibly time consuming, but it is another task; to coordinate with these folks and physically receive the items. This year I also went to Cretex a couple of times scavenging concrete chips to be used in place of flagstone(which we ran out of). Wrestling chucks of cement into a pickup and delivering them to the park was heavy, hot work for one 51 year old woman, so I am making note of it. Luckily for us—last week a Hillside fan &friend of Dave Anderson came through with 2 dump truck loads(!)of sandstone! (This is stuff that would not happen without the networking our crew&the parks commission has done over years and years to form these connections.) Ecogrid This is one of those oddball benefits of a dedicated crew invested in making the trail the best it can possibly be—constant experimentation. Ecogrid is a soil retention system you implant in the ground. I became curious about it as a possible solution for chronic erosion spots at the trail so found a manufacturer willing to supply a substantial amount for free as a sample. I got them to ship it for free too,as long as we could go to Woodbury to pick it up. We did; on our own dime. It is not cheap so requires a minimum 2 year testing time-line to see if it's worth ordering (in our opinion). (We hate seeing money wasted). We're only 1 year in. Police reports Unfortunately several of these had to be filed for vandalism and people trespassing in the closed park last spring. Twice I came to the park late at night to let cops in the gate so they could kick kids out of the back lot,just to make it easier for the police, not because I had to or was even asked to. Sometimes the police are very nice to deal with and other times they make it very clear they think we are being a pain in the butt. Twice they've acted a bit like jerks really. It is not a part of the job I enjoy doing. I certainly have other things to do with my time too. Other stuff A lot of time and energy is spent on intangible stuff like: -Double checking easement info for possible tree removals -Prioritizing possible park improvements -Going to meetings -Learning about"way-finding" -Figuring out how to get our shed back in use after being shut down by the fire marshal -Trying to deal with a building inspector who wants us shut down -Meeting with trail users who have ideas(not just Bob Meuller—this has happened 3 times this year) -Fielding emailed questions/inquiries -Cleaning a porto potty and trying to make it more nice and functional for users This all goes with the territory of being a Trail Steward I suppose, at least at Hillside. It is probably a bit more involved than many realize and takes a good deal of time, physical work, and energy.