I reached out to Wildlands Conservancy and they were able to provide an update on the "what and when" for the grasslands restoration. Here is what we have so far. Expect more in mid-September:
1) Game Commission is still on schedule and coordinating the actual work. They have had pre-bid meeting and they will select a contractor by the First week of September. The contractors need to be experienced in AO removal and working on the type of terrain.
2) Construction/AO demolition will begin this fall - we will know the exact date once the contractor is selected.
3) The details of the contract are that they need to remove a min of 100 acres before January 1 so expect a lot of activity toward the end of the year.
4) They contractors have been instructed to preserve the trails to the extent possible and not pile brush/dirt onto the trails.
5) We should be able to use the trails while the work is going on and throughout the winter. We are working with Wildlands to best figure out how to manage it but it looks like a common sense approach will be used. Don't ride in front of an active wood chipper - it's one dab you wish you didn't take :jawdrop:
6) Work most likely will begin in the south area around/through Killdozer. Because killdozer has such tight swithbacks, it's unlikely the trail can be saved/avoided. . Expect to see significant changes.
7) We are still hearing the same story regarding re-building/replacing Killdozer in that we need to wait until the work begins to see what's left. Wildlands is open to walk through the area after the work starts and we hope to engage the parks department as well. An on-site inspection will go a long way toward reaching a viable rebuilding plan.
The good news is that the other trails might not be affected that much and there may be some significant upside regarding future maintenance.
9) TrexFest is still an unknown until we have a date for the actual work. If we want to event to go on, we may need to be flexible.
Keep the conversations going.....
mtv