coffee talk albion hills

the planted forest in albion was put there for economic reasons (it was a clear cut area) in the 40’s and 50’s with no consideration for the natural habitat of the region. Cutting these “mono” species forests out allows replanting of natural species and reclaiming the land to it’s natural state. In other words tree farm bad… mixed forest good. So what is the natural state of albion hills? well it a cross between “great lakes st. lawrence” and “deciduous” forests some tree species include white cedar, birch, sugar maples, ashes, oaks, walnut, chestnut, beech etc. This natural forest is part of the trca mandate as stated in their objectives. Now back to trails, the trails in albion are trashed as a direct result of poor trail construction and over use (past 10 years worth). I’ll list a couple of examples, trails going down the fall line, no grade reversals, lack of trail hardening, not following grade rules, over use of the trails, etc. all of this results in soil displacement (erosion), roots being exposed, widening of trails and living trails (in otherwords reroutes). so the trails have been in trouble for the past ten years, just the frequency of use has magnified it. it often takes more work to return a trail properly to it”s natural state then to build it. so even from a economic point of view it is a poor choice to reroute your trails once they are worn out. it is even a poorer choice to build a trail that will wear out. of course if you are looking for a quick fix without any consideration to the environment, economics, stewardship past the short term and for private monetary gain then you move the trail. but why keep making the same mistakes of the past ten years? take the romans for example, they knew the value of a well built trail and we still travel their trails today (of course there are many more examples in history)…