For the first time in years, hikers, mountain bikers, and horse riders should have no difficulty finding out which trails in the La Sal and the Abajo Mountains are open to them, and closed to motorized recreation. And they should have no trouble finding and following those trails, according to officials with the Moab/Monticello Ranger District of the U.S. Forest Service.

This season, trail crews have brought 112 miles of non-motorized recreation trails up to National Forest Service standards, said Max Forgensi, trails field coordinator for the local ranger district.

Kiosks have been installed at all major trailheads, along with directional signs and trail maps, which also are now available at trail junctions, Forgensi said. Other signs, he said, make it absolutely clear which mode of transportation is allowed on which trails.

The Forest Service crew that cleared obstructions from the trails and protected them from erosion was supplemented by volunteers working with Red Rock Forests, a local non-profit organization, Wilderness Volunteers, a national organization, and Canyon Country Youth Corps, sponsored by the Four Corners School of Outdoor Education, according to a report prepared by the trail crew.

Volunteers were “especially helpful” in cleaning up damage caused by errant motorized recreation operators and blocking their access to quiet trails, the report states.

Two skilled trail builders employed by the National Park Service were also on loan to the Forest Service crew. The ranger district will pay for their work by assigning forest trail workers to the parks for an equal amount of hours during the winter, Forgensi said.

“Skilled labor for skilled jobs,” Forgensi said, explaining that the park employees are skilled at shaping rocks and using them to build rock walls across gullies where trails are eroding. They also built an “underwater bridge” across Wet Fort that allows hikers to cross while getting only the bottoms of their shoes wet.

“Instead of hiring new people to train to shape and build with rocks, we wanted experienced people,” to provide on-the-job training, Forgensi said. He said he hopes for similar agreements with the park service in the future.

Forgensi said that the district has just received a trails grant from the Utah Division of State Parks and Recreation to pay for eight weeks of work on five sections of trails in need of maintenance. Moonlight Meadow, a trail heavily used by mountain bikers, is among them, as is the trail connecting Warner and Oowah Lakes in the La Sals.

Almost half – about 49 miles – of the 112 miles covered are in the La Sals. Forgensi said that a new review and update of the non-motorized section of the forest recreation plan might include some hiking-only trails in the La Sals.

“But, if you can’t maintain the trails you have, you shouldn’t add any more,” he said. “We’re coming to a point that we’ll have a good maintenance schedule.”

Forest Service officials concur that this is the first significant district-wide effort in memory to bring non-motorized trails up to standards.

District Ranger Mike Diem praised Forgensi and his supervisor Brian Murdoch for their dedication. He called them and the trail crew an “outstanding recreational staff motivated to provide a quality experience.”

Diem alsonoted that the Forest Service has become aware of how important trails are to the community.

“We just have a great group of fun, dynamic people in the forest right now,” said Kim Schappert, director of the Moab Trails Alliance, a private group that works to make the Forest Service, among others, aware of the importance of trails.