Universal
Trail Assessment
Coordinator
Newsletter
Summer 1997
UTAP Video Vamps
Gordon Hayne, filmmaker to the USDA Forest Service, directed Beneficial Designs friends and staff in a new Universal Trail Assessment Process tools training video on June 3-4. Filmed in the evergreen forest behind Beneficial Designs, the video will give Universal Trail Assessment Coordinators a tool to help train their assessment volunteers.
Stand-Alone Trail Data Software
Beneficial Designs submitted a proposal in early June to the National Science Foundation for funding to develop stand-alone trail data processing software. A stand-alone program will eliminate the need to issue upgrades compatible with future versions of Excel.
Mapping Trails in Minnesota
Peter Axelson, Wayne Wright, John Tipton and Patti Longmuir spent May 1-3 teaching a trails workshop in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The training progressed from a wide, flat grass trail on day one to a trail so extreme on day two that most wheelchair users had to be portaged over many waist-high boulders and flights of stairs. The third day was held in a downtown Minneapolis park on trails of average difficulty.
Attendees, who were to spend the summer assessing Minnesota's trails, were eager to learn every detail of the process and challenged the trainers with tricky hypothetical situations. Their questions helped clarify the latest refinements made to the process. The California-based trainers, accustomed to small streams and many mountains, marveled at the wide vistas and the powerful Mississippi and St. Croix Rivers.
Redwood Summer Training
A cathedral of redwoods soared over the UTAP training in Henry Cowell State Park in Santa Cruz, California on June 5-6. Steep grades and rocky surfaces challenged participants. Three Girl Scouts and their troop leader attended as part of a pilot program with the Girl Scouts of America. If the program is successful, assessing trails could someday be another method for Scouts to earn merit badges. Several Beneficial Designs staff were also trained as Trail Assessment Coordinators during this workshop. Administrative Assistant Julie Kirschbaum said, "It was a very positive experience and allowed me to apply what I'd been working on in the office to a field situation."
Proposed Web Site with TAI
Beneficial Designs submitted a proposal in May to the U.S. Department of Education to develop a Web site containing Trail Access Information for trails across the United States. The site will give more people access to information about outdoor trails. In addition to TAI, the proposed site will include maps, general area information, scenic images, and links to visitor services such as lodging and tourism centers.
California State Park System Training
Peter Axelson and Wayne Wright conducted a trail training workshop in Eureka, California, on May 19-22. The workshop was the third required course of a trail construction and maintenance program for California State Park Trails Coordinators. Peter and Wayne spent one day mapping trails with Karl Knapp and Don Beers, California State Park trail maintenance experts, and improved the Trail Features section of the process. Trainees spent the evenings learning the UTAP from slide presentations, and one full day performing a trail assessment. The trail chosen was ideal for the training and offered many types of features, including drop-offs, obstacles, minimum clearances, and switchbacks.
The trainees spent the last evening in a computer lab trying out the Yosemite trail kiosk and entering the trail data they had collected into Excel using the trail data processing macros. State Park personnel were very interested in the features of the program, which not only calculates Trail Access Information but also generates reports of all the down trees, bridges, and other features, including their locations and the estimated amount of improvement work needed on each site. They excitedly planned how they would use the reports, including estimating future budgets based on actual costs for previous years, and projecting costs per project.
The California State Park System is committed to using the Excel-based trail data processing macros and has requested 28 copies.
UTAP Goes International
Patti Longmuir gave a 3-hour presentation on May 14 about the Universal Trail Assessment Process at the 11th International Symposium on Adapted Physical Activity in Quebec City, Canada. The presentation discussed the philosophy and need that led to the development of the Universal Trail Assessment Process, and surface measurement research and testing. Afterwards, trail professionals and university professors from Austria, Norway, Denmark, and the United States expressed interest in getting trained in the UTAP. One idea mentioned was to include trail assessments as part of the required curriculum for adaptive outdoor physical education courses. Students could be required to assess a trail to fulfill course requirements.
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