2018 Projects
* We had 19 rides (707 riders), a tack sale, three campouts, and seven trail work days with $4,806.41 in volunteer labor (154.20 hours) including lunch of $74.79 for volunteer work
* 203.17 hours of other trail work worth $6,332.81.
* Bridge replacement project at Douglas State Forest. Total volunteer labor $1,875.19 (60.16 hours), $74.30 for lunch, $743.88 paid for lumber, post caps and riprap, $400 of donated Blackwood lumber made this a $3,093.37 project value.
* Trail improvements of $400 in Oxford for rock splitting, $99.38 in Mendon for bushes and $76 for brush cutter rental for trail work in Oxford.
* FY2018 Partnership Award to complete final design plan for the SNETT between Rt. 126 and Center Street in Bellingham. $10,000 paid in 2018
* FY2019 Partnership Award to repair 2.1 miles of trails at Upton State Forest. Work to be done in 2019. $25,529 paid in 2018
* Had a booth at Equine Affaire.
* Lynn Paresky received the Volunteer of the Year Award from DCR.
* That gives us a grand total of $50,411.76 that was put into trails by BSTRA in 2018!
* Our Fund Raising Committee raised over $30,000 in 2018 for trail projects!
West Hill Dam Trail Work Day, Uxbridge MA. Sponsored by J.F. Cove Insurance Agency-April 22nd
This was our 25th annual trail work day. New England Mountain Bike Association (NEMBA) was also out there working on the trails. Due to some various issues, the Woodland Trail is no longer a loop. The trails going out to Mendon Road have now been reconfigured. The trail on both sides of the West River will now loop back to the trail that you came up on. NEMBA has been working on establishing these new loops and putting up signage.
We took down a lot of trees that were leaning over the trails. The hand saws definitely were used. We also cleaned out the water bars to make sure they continue doing their job for the next year which is keeping water off of the trail.
All totaled we put in 41.5 hours worth $1,293.55 and spent $84.67 on lunch to feed all the hard working volunteers.
Park Serve Day Upton State Forest, Upton MA-April 28th
This work day was held in conjunction with the Friends of the Upton State Forest.
We had seven BSTRA members that started tackling the mess out on the trails. There were numerous trees down across the trails along with a ton of trees leaning over the trails and piles of branches. Those last two nor’easter s did a lot of damage to our trail systems this year. Again we were using hand saws to cut down all the leaning trees, picking up all the downed branches, and cutting back where needed.
We did make a bit of a dent in clean up, but there is still more to go. All totaled we put in 28.5 hours worth $872.76. Many thanks to the Friends of Upton State Forest for providing lunch for all the volunteer workers.
Bridge Replacement Douglas State Forest, Douglas MA. Sponsored by Swerling Milton Winnick Public Ins.
This project actually involved 4 different days including Park Serve Day and some DCR work days.
April 13th: eight NEMBA members, 1 BSTRA member and a DCR supervisor brought in four, 23 foot long stringers to the site. Now keep in mind that DCR spent numerous hours getting all parts of this bridge pre-assembled so it would be quick work to put it back together again on site. It took eight people per one stringer to move it from the Southern New England Trunkline Trail (SNETT) down to where they needed to be. In 30 hours we had the stringers all in place with the side posts installed.
Next step: DCR got the bridge decked and then worked on building side walls off the closest side of the bridge, filled in with rip rap, topped the rip rap with a geo-textile material the BSTRA donated, covered the geo-textile material with processed gravel.
April 29th: Park Serve Day. Six BSTRA members with two wheelbarrows, shovels, and pickax we went to work. There was more rip rap that needed to be put on the left side as you approached the bridge. While that was being done, others stared building the head walls on both sides of the other side of the bridge along with a retaining wall a bit past the bridge on the right to secure the trail tread. After that was done, we started hauling down rip rap to fill in on the other side. The only thing I can say is that is was mostly downhill with bringing material down with the wheelbarrows. After we got the rip rap to the level we wanted, we laid down a layer of the geo-textile material. Then we stared hauling down the processed gravel. It took us 22.5 hours of very hard labor to get this done. When the rain started we all headed to town for a well deserved lunch.
May 1: Installed the post caps. 40 minutes
May 11: Installed the Blackwood Lumber down the middle of the bridge. This is a test for making it not slippery. Blackwood Lumber is pressure treated lumber with a black rubber laminated to the top. One hour was spent the day before to get the lumber cut and prepared for installation. It took two people 6 hours to install the Blackwood Lumber on the bridge, that counts getting it down to the bridge!
All totaled, with what I know for hours, there was 60.16 hours of labor put into this project. (DCR put in quite a bit in the pre-assembly work that I do not know what those hours are.)
Labor value: $1,875.19
PT Lumber: $210.52
Post Caps: $89.90
Rip Rap: $443.46
Lunch: $74.30
Total known value: $2,693.37
Inman Hill Wildlife Conservation Area Trail Work Day, Mendon MA Sponsored by Kay Gee Sign & Graphics-May 5th
We had 6 BSTRA members and 2 NEMBA members meet up to do the final requirements needed for the Conservation Commission and clear up winter storm damage. With a wheelbarrow full of tools and plants (10 high bush blueberry plants) we hit the trails. Tasks for the day were taking out all the trees leaning over the trail, clean up trees that came down, install water bars/swales in four spots and plant the blueberry bushes. All of this was on East Trail which is .7 of a mile long.
We volunteered a total of 29.4 hours worth $918.89, blueberry bushes were $99.38 and lunch for the crew was $74.79. Grand total for this work day was $1,093.06 and a job well done by all.
Hodges Village Dam Trail Work Day, Oxford MA. Sponsored by Quissett Hill Farm-June 2nd.
This trail work day started out with some pre-trail work. That just happens sometimes. There were some trees down that needed a chainsaw to clean them up.
So on May 31st, I headed out and spent 1.42 hours getting those trees cleaned up and out of the way.
So on the morning of June 2nd, our trail work day, dawned hot and humid.
To make our mornings work more efficient, I rented a brush cutter.
Our gang of volunteers included Kathy Rich, Karen Parlin, Cheryl Fitzpatrick, Becky Kalagher, and Loni Decelles.
Surprisingly enough, with just us “girls” we were able to complete almost a ¼ mile of trail work with 10 hours of hard labor!
With $76 for the brush cutter rental and $355.96 worth of volunteer labor, this was a total of $431.76 put back into the trails at Hodges Village Dam in Oxford MA.
Upton State Forest Trail Work Day, Upton MA. Sponsored by Neighborhood Insurance Agency-June 16th
Yes, we were back at the Upton State Forest. This is the year that agencies and volunteers are going to spend trying to get all the trails cleared from those blasted winter storms. Way too much damage but at least we are trying to help out where we can.
We had nine BSTRA members, many of them also Friends of the Upton State Forest as well as at least four DCR personnel working with us. I know the BSTRA members put in 30 hours and figure that DCR also put in at least 16 hours.
We did get all of Hawk trail cut back, all of Middle Road, all of Swamp and part of Loop. That was pretty impressive!
All I know is that I was really happy to finally eat lunch, and Lurissa remembered I wanted Hawaiian pizza!
Many thanks to Becky Kalagher, Crysanda Boisvert, Carolyn Weeks, Joyce Sandvik, Suzanne Nicholas, Lurissa Marston, Gloria Duhaime, Mary McMannus, and Kathy Rich. We had Pam & Dan from DCR working with our crew and I know Jody Madden (supervisor) was working along with another DCR person of whom I did not get a name.
All totaled BSTRA volunteer hours were worth $935.10
Pell Farm Trail Work Day, Grafton MA-Oct. 12th
Would you believe that we are still clearing up trails from the damage caused by the storms from last winter?
Some of the trails that we use for our Big Pumpkin Ride needed work. Thus the late afternoon trail work day on Oct. 12th.
The access road which is nice and wide had a ton of birch trees that were bent over. So we cut down all the ones that would interfere with horseback riders.
The access road was about .18 of a mile long. We then continued through the field and continued our trail work on the trail that exits the field at the far right end. We worked until we came to an intersection and that was about another .18 of a mile.
All totaled we did about .36 of a mile. We had five people, one running a chainsaw and the others did the bull work of pulling all the trees and brush off the trail along with trimming up with loppers.
All this was accomplished with five very hard working volunteers. Joyce Sandvik, Bill Knott, Suzanne Nicholas, Katherine Petersson, and Becky Kalagher.
Using the 2018 MA volunteer rate of $31.17 our total hours of 13.3 was worth $414.56