a trail advocate is born!

["Brickson" <brickson@delanet.com>]

Shelly said,

<<<have. We have lots of horse groups, but it's very fragmented. We have a
DE
Equine Council, but they haven't done much since a very successful letter
>>>

Keep your chin up, hang in there, go to the Equine Council meetings and TELL
them of your concern and wishes, and Preach to fellow horsepeople,
especially ones that don't read Ridecamp or TB or other publications that
have regular trail advocacy columns or articles.  If you ever find trail
news worth mentioning to your riding buddies, mention it also to the Equine
Councils and your other Clubs.  It's up to every one of us to do something.

PA Equine Council is very small; maybe DE is too.   Our various clubs are
disjointed in action, also.  This despite many members having membership in
more than one!    A lot of these resent paying so many membership fees for
all their clubs.  That seems to be why many are members of the Equine
Council only once before they find out how slow the political gears turn,
and how much work it is to gain ground on an issue.  They drop out.  It's
more fun to just ride and escape from dwelling on how depressing it is than
to work to save trails.  Some subscribe to only one publication of their
discipline, which may not mention trail advocacy at all.  Even if you find
your Council is small and ineffectual, you can improve it yourself by
getting involved.  Give some tired people some new ideas.  Go to meetings
and learn how things work.

In the East, the whole group of horsepeople is very miniscule and
unorganized compared to the much larger and more vocal biker group, and
these together may not be quite as large as the big hiker group, which is
very vocal, influential, and gets the most political support because of the
fact that it involves a recreation available to everyone.

Trail advocacy involves many times more cooperation between groups and
municipalities than does arguing for tennis courts or even municipal
sidewalks.  The entities involved may not meet or communicate on any other
subject save "trails", but that is where one problem is.  We as horsepeople
should join with other user groups to push for multi-use pathways and
farmland preservation as well as equestrian trails.  When we don't push to
establish new multi-use pathways, equestrian trails get converted to
non-horse trails to satisfy the need for the bigger, more vocal, user
groups.  When farmland is not preserved, there are no farmers to allow for
use of field edges or to grow local hay.  Sometimes field edges are crucial
trail connectors.   Farmers need our help because they are such a small
group now that they don't have much political clout, yet in some booming
areas, they hold most of the land available for "trails" without having to
change it much to "establish" (declare them such) them.

The answer is to act, keep doing positive things, be visible, try to do your
homework before saying things, and to get all your riding buddies to act
also, like get together to write postcards to representatives or local
planning councils.  Let them know where you ride, and how you get there, if
it's by trail.  Read all you can about trail advocacy.  Pass news around
your groups.

A VERY important activity for establishing and maintaining good
relationships with other user groups is to get your riding buddies to go
with you to the local trail work meetings.  Here is where you hear all the
buzz on local trails, and show other user groups that you care.  Better yet,
establish your own work groups with regular work meetings, and make it
visible by participating, for example, in your community Earth Day by
adopting some trail and doing a simple project on it.

Bridget

Jeff and Bridget Brickson