A trail becomes a warpath
http://www.mpnnow.com/news/x138485581/A ... -a-warpathVictor, N.Y. -
As the hikers made their way along the overgrown railbed, they gushed at warblers and thrushes, even sparrows, to say nothing of a rare plant that flowers for but a few days each year.
It was a chilly and soggy morning on the Auburn Trail in Victor, but spirits were high.
“I’m overdosing on the amount of life here!” exclaimed one of the binocular toters.
The hike was led by Steve Daniel, a naturalist who lives near the trailhead on Railroad Mills Road in the hamlet of Fishers. What he loves about the Auburn is that it’s just a humble little path winding along an old railbed. Its sights range from birds to nesting turtles to some “32 species” of butterflies, Daniel marveled.
“You feel like you are surrounded by nature,” Daniel said.
That’ll all change, he says, if the town of Victor keeps with its current plans to extend the Auburn Trail about two miles from Main Street, Fishers, to Wolston Road, to Powder Mills Park in Perinton and lay a stone dust path several feet wide.
The project, which also calls for the repair of a crumbling stone arch culvert over Irondequoit Creek, is being funded mostly by a $619,000 grant. It has been years in the making, aimed at linking trail systems across the region so a person could bike on a trial, nonstop from, say Canandaigua, to Greece to Letchworth State Park.
But Daniel said what’s happening in Fishers, on this “ecologically rich” 3,500-foot stretch of the path, is akin to constructing a “super highway” through the woodlands.
He is heading up a coalition of several nature groups who are lobbying local and state officials to reconsider the project.
The coalition includes members of the Burroughs Audubon Nature Club, the Sierra Club, the Rochester Birding Association, the Rochester Butterfly Club and the Genesee Valley Audubon Society. With petitions and letters, they’re calling on the plan’s developers and the town to compromise by widening that stretch to 3 feet rather than 10.
Even a jogging club called the Oven Door Runners, which frequents Victor’s 45 miles of trials, has joined in the opposition, turning in its own set of petitions opposing the use of stone dust as a ground cover. Some members would prefer it remain grassy, as would the nature group members.
“It would be shame to ruin it because there are so few rich, natural areas left that haven’t been taken over by development,” said Carol Hinkelman of the Audubon Nature Club.
Study after study
Development is a controversial buzz-word in burgeoning Victor, where most every new proposal for a housing tract or plaza is bemoaned by residents. This isn’t the typical growth debate, however.
On the side of the town is Parks and Recreation Director Brian Emelson, an avid runner, biker and nature enthusiast to boot. He has called the whole affair a “trail-improvement project,” which is certainly not what the opponents would say, at least when it comes to that 3,500-foot section.
Emelson offers a far less dramatic take on how the trail project will affect the butterflies, the plants, the turtles. “Our environmental studies to date have shown no environmental impact,” he said.
And there have been — and will continue to be — plenty of studies. Because the project is largely state and federally funded, the town has had to meet strict guidelines from entities like the Department of Environmental Conservation and the Army Corps of Engineers. Beyond that, Emelson and the hired designers of the trail, Fisher Associates of Rochester, have been working closely with an environmental consultant who has studied the trial — end to proposed end — even inspecting the treasured rare plant, the twinleaf.
The trail plans don’t call for the removal of any trees or bushes from that particular stretch that has the nature groups concerned, Emelson pointed out. The twinleaf will still thrive, turtles will still nest, butterflies will flutter. The trail as it stands now is actually about 10 feet wide, shrub to shrub, because it is an RG&E right of way.
“We’re proposing bringing in wildflowers to enhance the butterfly habitats,” he said, later adding, “It’s bicycling routes, it’s birding habitats — the whole trail itself presents wonderful opportunities.”
In fact, the plans are strongly endorsed by Victor Hiking Trails, a club with many members who help maintain the trails and conduct several public outings every year.
A 10-foot-wide path of stone dust is what’s recommended these days for a safe, two-way, pedestrian-friendly trail, said Emelson. Bicyclists, stroller-pushers, walkers and joggers “have to be able to see each other and pass each other safely,” he said.
The latest plans for the section of trail that has the nature groups concerned call for a 6-foot-wide stone dust path, while the rest of the trail will have an 8-foot-wide path, Emelson said. The plans, he said, “take into account not only the wildlife,” but also the needs of RG&E as well as other users, like bicyclists.
Why stone dust? “Woodchips, grass or dirt doesn’t accommodate a wheelchair,” Emelson said, adding that the surface “needs to be firm, stable and slip-resistent.”
Of the opponents from the Oven Door Runners, Emelson said, “Personally it offends me that able-bodied people don’t want to accommodate the disabled population.”
The plans still need final approval from the Federal Highway Administration and there are public-input meetings scheduled; one is to be held tonight at the temporary Town Hall. Daniel, the head of the coalition, will be there, as he sits on an advisory committee along with Emelson and others.
“We don’t want them to lose the grant,” Daniel said, “but we do want to see this area impacted as little as possible, and we do believe they can do that.”
I think the developed trails are worth it. I don't think they should be made for biking, skiing, and snowmobiling (especially) because of the large footprint. But leveled and paved for hiking.... yeah...I think if you attract people with developed trails like these, you attract people that learn to love and appreciate these areas and will fight to protect the them.
Your thoughts?