Warrior Mountain Chapter of the BCH of Alabama
By Linda Drzycimski
 Due to the loss of funding experienced by governmental agencies in recent years,
a back-log of trail maintenance and repair work exists in most forests, making
partnerships between the Forest Service and resource users even more important.
The Sipsey Wilderness is no exception. Warrior Mountain Chapter members have
made it their mission to concentrate on opening and maintaining the 20 miles of
horse and wagon trails in The Sipsey. Alabama has 667,000 acres of National
Forest lands, including three forests with horse trails. Within the Bankhead
Forest in Northern Alabama -- 181,000 acres of bluffs, canyons, gorges and
waterfalls -- is The Sipsey National Wilderness. The Sipsey is the largest
wilderness area east of The Mississippi River.As a result of Warrior Mountain Chapter’s (WM) efforts to develop a good
relationship with members of the Bankhead District Ranger Station, several
joint workdays have been completed. One of the larger projects began with hiring
Dr. Gene Woods (a shared-trails specialist and author of Recreational Horse
Trails in Rural and Wild Land Areas), to evaluate horse and wagon trails in
The Sipsey in order to provide recommendations for future trail management. Dr.
Woods’ visit was co-funded by WM and the USFS. His visit included a weekend
conference as well as time on the trails for evaluation and actual hands-on
work.
Because of the wilderness designation, working in The Sipsey means no motorized
equipment may be used. All logs must be cut by hand with one- or two-man saws.
All people, tools, and equipment must be transported via pack stock. Specialized
tools are required for much of the work, including ground-sculpting equipment.
Warrior Mountain members received a grant to purchase tools to use in The Sipsey.
We look forward to growing Warrior Mountain membership, building on our
relationship with the USFS, and tackling the issues and challenges we will
undoubtedly face as we work to keep existing trails open and encourage
establishment of new trails. The goal is to see more of Alabama’s forests say
"Welcome" to equestrians. For more information on memberships or work day schedules, contact: Jeff Still
at jfstill@hiwaay.net or Mike Bagwell at
jabagwell@juno.com. |
