By Dave Halsey
NOHVCC Contributing Writer
When businesses and organizations work together to give America's youth
new opportunities for outdoor recreation, great things can happen. Case in
point: a new, state-of-the-art ATV trail system being built at the K Bar M
Scout Ranch near Lewistown,
MT.
Phase 1 of the new trail, scheduled to open for the 2013
camp season, includes an ATV safety training range and five miles of sustainable,
beginner-level ATV trails on the 600 acre property. The new ATV program will be
available to Scouts 14 years of age and older.
"It's a big deal. We're very excited about it," Gordon
Rubard, Scout Executive with the Montana Council of the Boy Scouts of America
(BSA), said. "After a young man has been to camp a couple years, there has to
be new challenges for him. We see this as an opportunity for older Scouts to
learn the use of an ATV the right way and the safe way."
Providing guidance and assistance to the K Bar M are staff
and board members of the National Off-Highway Vehicle Conservation Council
(NOHVCC). "For us, what makes this program so exciting and unique is that we're
able to start with a sizable area and not have to rely on using existing roads
or infrastructure," Russ Ehnes, NOHVCC Executive Director, said. "It's a really
cool camp. We're going to help them put in a purpose-built trail system,
specifically laid out for this activity. It's going to be totally sustainable
and a lot of fun.
"The other important aspect of this project is by providing
a sustainable trail, and giving the kids the training they need to really ride
an ATV, rather than just making it go, we have exposed the kids to ways where
they know they can ride in a safe and responsible manner, yet still have fun in
the outdoors. It is imperative that our kids learn those lessons."
Planning the new ATV trail system--which the camp also plans
to use for hiking, mountain biking and horse riding--began with
preliminary discussions at the camp to identify the needs of the camp and the
Scouts. "We spent a lot of time looking at the property and discussing the
options, their advantages and challenges," said Ehnes. "We captured and
documented this work, and the net result is a preliminary ATV trail system map
created from on-site visits, topographic maps and aerial photographs."
Drew Stoll, owner of Great Outdoors Consultants, Fort
Collins, CO, played a key role on the planning team. A landscape architect and
outdoor recreation planner, he donated his time to provided the preliminary
trail layout, using on-site GIS mapping technology. "He did a fantastic job and
really helped us get the planning off on the right foot with his GIS work and
field experience," said Ehnes.
NOHVCC and the scout executives are also planning to draw on
the experience of Trails Unlimited, Monrovia,
CA, to assist in building the
trail next spring. Its trail experts have decades of experience in "on the
ground" problem solving of difficult trail design, construction and
maintenance situations.
The local ATV dealer has also joined in on the project.
Lewistown Honda is working with the camp to provide ATVs through American Honda
Motor Co. and Polaris Industries, both of which have formal programs to loan
vehicles to the Boy Scouts. "The guys at Lewistown Honda are totally enthused
about the program. They'll even go out on the site, pick up the machines, bring
them back and do the maintenance on the vehicles and get them back out there,"
said Ehnes.
Phase 2 will add another five miles of ATV trails to the
system. It will be designed as an intermediate-level trail to attract young
riders back to the program and provide a destination trail to a ghost town on
the camp property. The proposed trail system does not cross any existing
corridors for other activities and leaves the current core uses of the camp
unchanged.
The new ATV trail system may serve as a case study for other
Boy Scout Councils, said John Manz, volunteer and VP of Administration with the
Montana Council. "We intend this to be a "Best in Class" trail," said Manz. "I
also think that it will be useful for others, not just those of us in Scouting.
If we have a documented case study of doing it right, it can help other
organizations who want to do this and understand what it takes to break in a
new area."
The BSA Montana Council is one of more than 20 in the
country with ATV programs. ATV riding became an official BSA program
starting with the 2012 camping season, following a successful 2-year pilot project
created by BSA with the help of the ATV Safety Institute (ASI). BSA updated
their camp standards to allow for ATV use at approved camps. It adopted the ASI
RiderCourse curriculum as the official training course for leader/instructors
and Scouts. More than 200 Boy Scouts participated in the pilot program.
American Honda Motor Co., Inc. provided the ATVs--including 150 vehicles for
the 2012 camping season--through its Rider Training Loan Program. Individual
councils pay for helmets and safety gear.
Incorporated in 1910, BSA has 296 councils throughout the U.S., with more
than 500 summer camps, 2.8 million active youth members and 1.1 million active
adult volunteer members. In addition, there are more than 50 million former
youth members.
The Montana Council's Rubard believes the partnership
between BSA, ASI, NOHVCC, professionals who plan and build trails, and others
in the OHV industry will benefit Scout programs in the future. "If it's done
right it's a win-win," said Rubard. "We're all looking for that, because it
becomes sustainable when everybody participating shares the same goals."
In the meantime, flagging of the preliminary trail layout
for Phase 1 continues at the K Bar M Scout Ranch. And the entire team couldn't
be happier, especially Ehnes: "We will have the trail system on the ground by
June, so it has time to harden up and settle, and in July when the camp
programs start, the trail system will be ready to roll."
