In the cool, leafy shade of the Palos/Sag Valley Forest Preserve in Palos Hills, volunteers have removed hundreds of old beer cans, rubber tires, broken glass, two rusty folding chairs and even a discarded bathing suit top.
The rattle of trash being tossed into garbage bags, the scraping of rakes and the laughter of volunteers could be heard on a recent Saturday morning along one of the forest preserve’s dirt paths.
Little more than a year ago, this volunteer effort would have been unthinkable because the participants are members of two groups that often have been in conflict over the shared use of some forest preserve trails-equestrians and mountain bikers.
“What scares equestrians is that mountain bikes are machines,” said Charles Kurre, events director for the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation. “They don’t understand the colorful clothing (bikers wear) or the speed,” which is often between 3 and 15 miles an hour in a rocky, rough forest preserve setting.
Now, however, the groups are trying to reach a common goal: to improve the forest preserve and maintain some access to its 35 miles of single-track dirt paths.
“Some trails will have to be closed because the damage is too great,” Kurre admitted. Both groups “destroy vegetation, and that causes erosion.”
Kurre joined in the cleanup with members of the Trail Users Rights Foundation (TURF), a group of local mountain bicycle riders. Mountain bikes can maneuver over rough terrain because they have a wider tire, a lighter frame and straighter handlebars than other types of bicycles.
Also taking part in the cleanup were equestrians from the Palos Hills Horsemen’s Association. The two groups recognize that their activities-biking and horseback riding-damage less-traveled paths in the forest preserve. These “spider” trails are narrow paths forged through the trees by animals, such as deer, or are simply the creation of bikers and equestrians seeking a challenge. The main trail system is sturdier than the spiders.
“Because rules for bike riders are vague right now, they are doing a lot of damage,” said Roger Keller of Hickory Hills, a member of the Palos Restoration Project, which is dedicated to preserving and restoring the area’s native ecosystem.
“The bikes tear up plants,” he said. “The (bikes’) skidding takes away the topsoil.”
But cyclists are not the only ones to blame, Keller said: “Horses pick up burrs of non-native plants and drop them further along the trail, causing more growth of non-native plants.”
To address the conflicts between the various groups, to establish rules of etiquette for equestrians and cyclers and to prevent further forest preserve damage, a committee with members of all of the groups was formed a year ago.
“We want to find solutions to these problems that all interested groups may not like, but that they can accept,” Eubanks said.
The 16-member Trail Committee has been involved in developing rules of the road. The committee is also developing a plan for better signs to guide users and will recommend which trails should be closed to all groups. Any rules the committee proposes must be approved by the Cook County Forest Preserve Board of Commissioners.
Conservationists like Laurel Ross, who is a member of the Trail Committee, are not so much against closing the spider trails as they are in favor of establishing an official trail system that has signs that make clear what the rules are.
“Many, many of these trails (created by animals, bikers or equestrians) are not official,” she said. “A lot of people are talking about closing trails that were never officially opened.”
Ross, who is a field representative for the Chicago-based Nature Conservancy, said she doesn’t blame most bikers and equestrians who go off the beaten track.
“Right now, it’s impossible for some bikers to even know if they’re on an official trail system,” because there are no signs, she said. The Nature Conservancy provides funding and other support to volunteer groups, such as the Palos Restoration Project, that work to preserve ecologically significant land in northeastern Illinois.
Palos Hills resident Jeanette Falk, a member of the Trail Committee, is working on issues such as trail policy, maintenance, and mapping and signs.
“The forest preserve just mailed a map of the trails to me today,” said Falk, an equestrian who has ridden the forest preserve trails for 22 years. “I’m making corrections and adding spider trails they left out. I see one very obvious one right now.”
Once mapping is completed, Falk said representatives of various user groups who are on the committee will walk the trails to decide which should remain open. The entire process of developing an official trail system could take a year or longer.
“A lot of these spider trails make sense,” Falk said. “They connect long trails or they go by really pretty areas. You can see that some are strategically placed so (riders) return in an hour instead of staying on a long trail for three hours.”
Whether to keep a spider trail open because it passes through an especially attractive setting or because it is convenient will have to be balanced by the ecological impact, however.
“There are ravine areas where it might be thrilling for a bike or horse to go down, but they are fragile,” Eubanks said.
The Saturday morning cleanup-Falk and Kurre were among the participants-was one way to demonstrate that bikers and equestrians, like preservationists, care and take responsibility for the condition of the forest preserve.
Balancing the desire to practice their sport with the need to save the flora and fauna of the preserve is a goal cyclists and equestrians have adopted.
Preservationists also say they understand the desire to ride on the twisting, narrow, more difficult trails. And they insist that their desire to maintain the preserve’s ecosystem is not an effort to keep users out.
Sandi Stein, public relations director for the Nature Conservancy, explained, “If people didn’t get out there and appreciate the forest preserve, then they wouldn’t have the concept of wanting to protect it either.”
