Highlights of 2018

It’s been a great year for the Duluth Area Horse Trail Alliance. Check out our activities and accomplishments! Become a 2019 member and join the fun!

DAHTA Highlights of 2018

Trail Development:

Ribbon cutting for the Ely Peak Loop in the Magney-Snively Area to reopen repaired trail for horse riding!
Front page Duluth News Tribune coverage, as well as all three TV stations.
Worked with the City of Duluth on trail and regulatory signage.

Fundraising efforts:

Rummage Sale at Proctor Moose Lodge
Donation Boxes at local tack and feed stores
“Spring Tune-up” horse sensory clinic
Trailer Loading Clinic
Duluth Air Show Beer Tent
Grants acquired from Duluth Community Foundation for trail signage and mounting blocks
Minnesota Trail Riders Association grant and additional DAHTA funds used to repair final section of wet Ely Peak trail.

Fun Activities:

Spring trail ride at Boulder Lake
Horse round pen demonstration at “Spring Tune-up”
Participated in Esko Fun Days parade

Education & Outreach:

Horses In Your Neighborhood (educates the public about horses and horse ownership at 5 local barns)
Table at Northland Horse Fair in Superior, presentation made about DAHTA
Participated in Duluth’s Great Outdoors Party
Met with trail user leaders at Zeitgeist for informal discussion about shared trail use and ways to communicate trail etiquette.
Further developed relationship with Cross Country Ski Club for shared trail development and maintenance.
Participated in DWP Restoration Technical Advisory Group to discuss share use best practices, and provide
Developed DAHTA display for City Hall, joining other trail user group displays.

Accomplishments of 2017! Happy New Year!!

DAHTA Accomplishments of 2017

Met obligation to City of Duluth in raising $30,000 for trail improvements to the Ely Peak Loop in the Magney Snively Natural Area. Construction was completed in late 2017.

Attracted new members to reach year-end high of 75 members.

Facebook page attracted 1,040 followers. DAHTA “Share the Trails” video went viral 150K views and 3.5K shares.

Northland Horse Fair booth was staffed, selling horse treats and water bottles. DAHTA board members gave a talk about DAHTA and its goals.

Horse sensory clinic was held at Serenity Farms, raised $500 with 17 participants and their horses. Great success which will be expanded in 2018.

Participated in City of Duluth trail planning, including ways to make trails that are shared with other user groups more horse rider friendly. (Mounting blocks, rail height across bridges, etc.)

Horses in Your Neighborhood outreach event in May was huge success at four barns with 100s of participants.

DAHTA submitted a response to a Duluth News Tribune Letter to the Editor to clarify horse use on shared trails.

DAHTA was featured in an article “Hot to Trot the Trails” in Duluth.com magazine

Held annual fundraiser at Derailed Bar, many donations were secured, raised nearly $2,000 in spite of rainy night.

DAHTA paid for board member to attend a grant writing workshop

Grant written and received from Duluth Community Foundation for $5,000 for trail signage on the Ely Peak Loop.

Lots of fun at the Boulder Lake Trail ride held in June

September 19 trail bike ride on the DWP trail to familiarize members with challenges and opportunities.

Received confirmation that the Buffalo House wants to work with DAHTA on developing a horse camp.

Small group enjoyed the Dago Lake trail ride held in October

Six donation boxes were placed at horse tack and feed stores

Looking ahead to 2018…

Official reopening of the Ely Peak Loop to horse riders!
Developing signage for horse riders on the Ely Peak Loop
Plotting out the next trail goal toward connection with the Buffalo House
Planning horse camp with the Buffalo House
Working with Jay Cooke Park for expanded horse trails
Increase membership to over 100 members
Many fundraising and fun events to accomplish our goals!

Phase One Trail Update

Trail work will start this spring and completion date is set for October! Yee haw!

The bidding will go out for base improvements to the western portion, which is the Ely Peak loop, and the Magney Snively trail. It will be filled and hardened to a width necessary for horses, and the culverts installed. Where necessary, the fall line will be changed to provide a single track switchback. In most areas it will be a hardened (class 5) 6′ wide trail and crushed stone on each side.

The contractors are hoping to keep the cost around $110,000, which is available between DAHTA funds, 1/2-and-1/2 funds, and Parks and Rec funds.

Initially, we won’t need volunteer help on the trails. However, DAHTA continues to need volunteers to help with fundraisers and fun events. This is critical! Thanks to our membership for your continued support. Let’s not lose our momentum now. Please encourage your friends to join DAHTA and let’s ride!

Public Input for Duluth Traverse Trail Master Plan

Calling all horse trail advocates! The public is invited to attend the first public meeting for the Duluth Traverse Trail Management and Master Plan. The City is leading a public process to determine best practices for future management, to guide final segment development and construction, and gather input on improvements to the trail system.

DAHTA members are invited to complete a questionnaire to help set the vision. It can be downloaded and printed here Trail Issues Questionnaire.

DAHTA Accomplishments for 2016. Happy New Year!!

Fundraisers
– B&B Brat Sale in the spring
– Wine/Beer Tasting and Raffle in cooperation with Friends of Magney-Snively in December.

Events
– Horses in Your Neighborhood (Spring)
– Northland Horse Expo info table
– Spring Ride and Picnic at Boulder Lake
– Fall Ride at Dago Lake
– Fall Hike/Tour of Magney-Snively Trail and Lunch

And more!
– Assisted City of Duluth with Post-Windstorm trail check at Amity Trail
– Assisted Cross-Country Ski Club with trail maintenance on National Trails Day
– Met with City of Duluth and other trail user groups to develop wayfinding signage for trail systems.
– Purchased DAHTA banner, t-shirts and water bottles for promotion.
– Developed relationship with X-C Ski Club to partner on shared trail development and maintenance.
– DAHTA was featured on all three TV News Stations and in local newspapers.

Raffle & Beer/Wine Tasting Fundraiser

Sunday, Dec. 11, 3 – 6 p.m. at Clyde Iron Works

Raffle tickets for sale at the door or by DAHTA members and members of Friends of Magney-Snively. $10 suggested donation.

Major donations from Friends of Magney-Snively, Loll Designs, local restaurants, outdoors opportunities… and many more raffle items and opportunities to win at the event!

Our fundraising goal is to raise $30,000 to make repairs and reopen the Ely Peak Loop in the Magney-Snively XC Ski area.

dahtaraffle-poster2

Magney-Snively Trail Update: Aug. 30

DAHTACityPlan2016 Last week, DAHTA President Anne Gullion and Member Jackie Willis met with City of Duluth Trail Coordinator Judy Gibbs and Parks & Rec’s Luke Sydow to assess the Magney-Snively trail. They went through every change being proposed to the trail. (NOTE: This is the 3.7 mile loop that is Phase One to connecting with XC Ski trails and eventually a horse camp area and Jay Cooke trails!)

Rerouted trails, flagging, clearing

There are a number of areas that will be rerouted for the horses and they will be single track. A couple of them will make the trail much more interesting because they follow a rock wall. In several instances Luke will get a bid on whether it’s cheaper to reroute or redo the trail. It appears the whole trail will be covered with an aggregate soil with fines so that it binds. It is a small mixed size rock suitable for horses.

Luke will try to get all the rerouted trails flagged this week. These are areas that the volunteers can get out and start clearing. He is going to try to break the project into sections so that we can get going on the construction at $20,000 increments.

They discussed starting with the Ely’s Peak section because it would be visible from the Skyline Parkway and people can park horse trailers on the road.

Friends of Magney/Snively have donated 17 yards of material. Judy Gibbs is checking it to see if it is appropriate.

Time to get started

This trail development is daunting, but also exciting. Major funding is needed. Once we start working it will be easier to get press coverage and more donations, so we have to just get started. Note that DAHTA cannot use volunteer equipment while the contracted company is working, but if there is a load of fill deposited by the road and it needs to be moved to site, we can move it after hours, weekends, or whenever it doesn’t interfere with scheduled hours.

Sharing the trail with horses

What’s the safest way to approach horses on the trail? Watch this 3 minute video developed by DAHTA. It’s really very simple!