No New Trail Segments to Report, Again I
t's November and it's time to prepare another article for the North Star. Quick! Check to see how many new segments are on the latest list of certified segments. Oh no! The last update was July and we already reported on those additions. This is my fourth article in this series that was proposed to highlight and recognize the efforts of trail builders along the trail, and the second one where I didn't have any new segments to report. This has become a problem for us at the National Park Service because one of the few measurable outputs that we can show to the folks in Washington for our very non-typical park is certified miles. Tom Gilbert had to explain why we hadn't made our goal for added miles of certified trail for the annual report.
Changes in CCS projectscoring I guess it is time to explain some changes in scoring applications for Challenge Cost Share projects for the coming year. By the time you read this article, we will have sent out the new project ranking values to chapter presidents and trail coordinators and we will have received most of our applications for Challenge Cost Share projects. Preliminary applications should have
GOING FOR . FREi).izARKA NPS Trail Manager
projects that propose constructing new certified trail at less that 100% will receive five points per mile. Trail construction without a commitment for certification will not receive any points. See your chapter president for additional details on project scoring.
Applicationsdeadline been received by December 15, 2004, although we will consider later applications if funding permits. In order to encourage applicants to submit projects for building and certifying additional trail, we will rank projects that propose new certified trail built to 100% of handbook standards at ten points per mile of new certified trail. Chapters that submitted trail for certification in the last two years will receive five points per mile for those previously submitted certifications. (Chapters that have eligible segments completed, but not submitted, can also receive those points if they submit applications for certifications along with project applications.)
Encourage new standards We also want to support the goal of encouraging new trail to be built to 100% of handbook standards, so
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One major change this year is that we will screen projects for environmental compliance. This also includes reviewing the project for impact on a variety of cultural resources including archeological sites. If the project involves ground disturbance, it needs to be screened for potential archeological impacts. If it involves construction in wetlands, we will need to comply with a variety of regulations relating to wetlands. Because of the need to screen projects, we will retain the December 15 due date for preliminary consideration. Projects will have to be described fully enough to assess potential impacts, especially the legal description of the project area. However, we will relax the requirement for projected costs, vendor lists, and price quotes until February 1. That should take some of the burden off project planners. The preliminary application should still have a rough cost estimate, but we will not hold chapters too tightly to those figures.
Project planning In order to encourage certification and assure that other construction meets with the approval of the land owner or land manager, we will also require that the preliminary application be approved by them. This approval will allow the chapter to submit the segment for certification when it is completed. I ended my last article with a plea for submission of additional trail for certification. I hope that with the end of the fall trail construction season, we receive additional applications for certified trail before the next North Star deadline.