Water Management on Legacy Trails

The SET test is a useful tool for maintainers, trail crews, and land managers to assess existing built trail features, as well as assessing proposed new features on legacy trails. The feature should comply with the three criteria below:

1. Sustainable
   1. Must last a long time (twenty plus years).
   2. Requires minimal maintenance.
2. Effective
   1. Must work for its intended purpose (such as removing water from the trail).
   2. Must work effectively for a long time.
   3. Must remain effective with minimal maintenance.
3. Traversable
   1. Must be easy for the trail user to cross.
   2. Increases trail accessibility by eliminating difficult obstacles.
   3. Reduces trail widening by eliminating obstacles which often divert user off trail.
   4. More aesthetic. Generally, the feature blends into the background and user does not notice it.

The presentation will discuss the challenges of legacy trails, examine with photos and commentary commonly built trail features, and apply the SET test to them. The presentation will then discuss the renovation of existing features and the construction of new trail features that comply with the SET criteria. Understanding the SET concepts is applicable to anyone maintaining natural surface or aggregate surface trails, wither intended for foot or wheeled traffic.

Learning Objectives:

• Understanding of water dynamics that cause erosion and sedimentation.
• Familiarity with the components of the SET test.
• How to apply the test to existing or new features.