Cobb >> The Friends of Boggs Mountain (FOBM) was recently awarded an educational trail building grant from the International Mountain Biking Association (IMBA), with the Subaru/IMBA Trail Care Crew (TCC) scheduled to come to Lake County in early April.
The Subaru/IMBA TCC, on the road since 1997, is IMBA’s grassroots educational program, with regional trail crews that travel throughout the US in Subaru-sponsored vehicles. The IMBA crew coming to Boggs will feature a “trails duo”, Jordan Carr and Lani Bruntz. The crew will hold presentations on the benefits of trails to communities, as well as sustainable trail building techniques based on IMBA’s highly-respected Trail Building School in the classroom as well as outdoors in Boggs Forest.
Celebrating its 13th year in 2015, the Friends of Boggs Mountain was among a select few to have received this nationwide, competitive grant. And this isn’t IMBA TCC’s first time at Boggs. The first crew visited a few years after FOBM was formed and worked with FOBM volunteers to improve a seasonal creek crossing at popular Gail’s Trail, near Boggs’ main parking lot.
“The application process was paperless, completed online and exhaustive. With our busy lives, we nearly missed the deadline. We’re real jazzed about this educational grant,” stated Gigi Stahl, FOBM volunteer and treasurer. “One of the biggest requirements was outreach to the entire community of all trail users, including hikers and horseback riders. So we’re planning to reach out to government and community leaders, and folks on the Konocti Regional Trails (KRT) distribution list to inform them of this wonderful opportunity. Naturally, the newly-formed IMBA Chapter, the Lake County Trails Coalition, will also play a big role in this program.”
In the hope of enlisting greater participation in other areas of the County, FOBM plans to hold one presentation in Lakeport on “Better Living Through Trails” with case studies on how trails have benefited communities. The other venue will be in Cobb, which will cover trail building techniques.
The venue locations and program details will be forthcoming. For now, save the date of April 10 for the Lakeport presentation at 3 p.m. and April 11 for the Cobb classroom instruction at 9 a.m. and Boggs trail work at 1 p.m.
The Friends of Boggs Mountain was founded in 2002 to provide a source of funding for Boggs Mountain Demonstration State Forest’s trail maps. Since then, it has developed and continues to maintain a self-guided interpretive trail, procures and installs trail markers to help visitors navigate the 3,433-acre forest, organizes free hikes and speaker events that have included dog trainers, naturalists and local historians, and holds monthly trail maintenance days. The next trailwork day is scheduled for March 8.
For updates, visit www.boggsmountain.org. For information on the IMBA TCC, visit www.imba.com/tcc.
