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Trail Maintenance

Most NJ parks are very well maintained, and their trails are kept in Great condition. This is all made possible because of great staff, and hard working volunteers. Without these hardworking men and women, many trails that we all know and love will erode beyond recognition, or get over grown so much you can not enjoy them.

Last year I found a great nonprofit group called S.M.A.R.T. (Save Mercer And Ride Trails/mercertrails.org), and was able to take part in many trail days within Mercer County Park to help keep this park looking great. We cleaned up after a large flood, cut back over grown trails, fixed bridges and perfected single track. Here are a few Trail Day photos I have taken:

S.M.A.R.T. is part part of a larger group, called JORBA (Jersey Off Road Bicycle Association). JORBA’s mission is to Advocate, Educate and Conserve. JORBA is dedicated to serving off road cyclists as a member, of equal standing, within the trail user community. We’re both an educational and charitable entity, organized to encourage volunteerism and responsibility, and advocate and foster off-road cycling as a healthy, environmentally sound, and sustainable activity. (More can be found on their site of course)

JORBA turned me onto an even larger biking group named IMBA, that is trying to clean up the entire image of mountain bikers by truly giving back to the community. A great explanation can be found within their site: "The International Mountain Bicycling Association is a non-profit educational association whose mission is to create, enhance and preserve great trail experiences for mountain bikers worldwide."

Over the winter I ran into another useful website that has great trail information, as well as a great bunch of volunteers that keep Many parts in central jersey beautiful. The group is called New Jersey Trails Association. NJTA is a cooperative project of land preservation and conservation organizations spearheaded by D&R Greenway Land Trust. NJTA's mission is to make accurate information and maps on preserved lands accessible to the public. NJTA assembles information on trails open to the public, and posts the information on this site. They also work with state, county, local, and non-profit land preservation groups and parks agencies to plan more trails.

Here are some pictures of the first trail day that I was able to participate with them: