National Trail Surfaces Study

Background

The diversity of trails in this country is only matched by the diversity of environments in which they are located. A surface that might be firm and stable in one region of the country may be not firm and not stable in another; a surface that may be firm and stable in July may be not firm and not stable in December; and a surface that was firm and stable last year, may be not firm and not stable this year. These are just a few of the problems faced by Land Managers who are trying to make decisions on natural surfacing materials that create a firm and stable trail. Currently, there are not enough answers to provide to Land Managers because qualitative data on existing natural surface trails has not been compiled and distributed for specific regions.

As previously reported, the original intent of the National Trail Surface Study was to gather longitudinal data on different natural trail surface materials across a variety of regions throughout the United States to determine the impact of climatic influences and their effect on firmness and stability of those surfaces over time. Owing to the downturn in economic and human resources starting in 2008, parks that had previously committed to participate in the study withdrew, leaving only the original site (Bradford Woods) for testing over the 51 months data were collected. In an effort to gain insight into the types of natural surface materials being used on trails nationally, the researchers proposed a new course of study to gather data via survey method. The new scope of work was to conduct a study of trail managers to gain information on trail construction, repair, and maintenance. The intended outcome was to establish and maintain a database of regionally relevant information on trail surface materials and construction practices. Oklahoma State University was commissioned in 2011 to develop and conduct a survey of trail managers to ascertain information about natural trail surface materials, and construction practices used in different region of the country. The accessibility of the trails and surface materials were not a focus of this survey.