Soon, I Hope

I email David yesterday about any progress that had been made on his end. He said I should check with the FWC. The FWC said everything looked good as far as the rerouting and relocating. David said I should get all my drawings together to send to Tallahassee. That sounds promising. My goal is to have everything ready when the weather cools a bit. When work slows a little, I’ll get the maps ready.

Gulf Power seems willing to let us use their easement off of Greenbrier for a parking area but I need to go out and do some measuring to meet some of their criteria. I haven’t approached the university yet, but soon. I doubt they will spring for materials and neither will Gulf Power but we may be able to get our feet wet in the whole grant writing process to get some gravel and a kiosk. If we can get permission to park there, then the race can start there. The Pate Road entrance is too much of a hassle for Gulf Power to deal with so the will probably remain an “unofficial” entrance.

Steve with the NWFWMD responded to my last email, he had been out of town. Communication is good.

A guy from Virginia posted on the PORC forum about dirt jumping. He’s maybe moving here and wanted to know if we had any facilities for it. He says he’s had experience dealing with agencies getting these things built. I emailed him with all of our experiences but he hasn’t responded yet.

More Blackwater Progress

The FWC has finished the gopher tortoise survey for Phase 2. It looks a lot like Phase 1 in that the top of the hill is pretty well covered by tortoises and the slopes less so. So to me that means some of the trail has got to be relocated/removed. I talked to David Creamer about it yesterday and he pretty much agreed. We did discuss utilizing an area I had neglected that has quite a bit of area and some good terrain. East of the railroad bed going towards the primitive area was left unused due to the contours not reflecting much. When I was out there last, I was suprised at the grade change. David said we were free to use this area as long as we stayed away from the primitive area camp ground and away from the wetlands. Doing all of this might actually increase the length of the trail so I’m all for it.

The PORC Elders met with Bill Huth last night to discuss the UWF trails. Bill is an instructor and a member of the Environmental and Beautification Committee. He rides at UWF on occasion and likes what we have. He was looking for input so he can carry it back to the committe and make suggestions and recommendations.  I think he’s going to push for a new bridge based on student usage and safety. Go Bill.