The Wisconsin Horse Council presents our 13th Trail Master Certification course presented by Trail Design Specialists, Inc. (TDS) to be held this year in Magnolia Bluff Park in Evansville, WI. Our instructor will be Mike Riter of TDS. The 4-day course will be held on May 16st through May 19th. Class will run from 8:00 through 4:00 daily. All days must be attended to complete the course.
Overview This course will cover the latest advances in trail design, construction and maintenance with a focus on long term sustainability and ease of maintenance. The course consists of interactive classroom and practical in field sessions covering the topics listed below.
Trail Design and Layout We will cover advances on how to properly design and layout a trail. We will discuss how to avoid erosion, user conflicts, and impact problems through design. This session will give you a good working knowledge of what causes trails to erode through water/soil relationships. An outdoor session will consist of a series of flagging and layout drills designed to utilize the concepts covered in the classroom.
Trail Construction We will cover proper corridor clearing for all types of use and proper construction of a durable tread surface. Various types of tread construction, cribbing and raised tread sections, switchbacks and a section on bridges and boardwalks are also included. An outdoor session will consist of construction techniques covered in the classroom. A demonstration of tread construction machinery may be included.
Trail Maintenance We will cover maintenance issues on trails. We will discuss how to make long-term repairs and lower environmental impacts. Trail hardening techniques along with rehabilitation of disused trails will also be covered. The outdoor session will consist of maintenance techniques covered in the classroom.
Crew leader The last day will be field application on the concepts we covered on the previous days interspersed with leadership techniques for working with volunteers. This portion of the program will be held entirely outdoors and will give each student the opportunity to lead a crew.