Arizona Trails 2015: a Statewide Motorized & Non-Motorized Trails
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Arizona Trails 2015 A STATEWIDE MOTORIZED & NON-MOTORIZED TRAILS PLAN PHOTO CREDITS FROM COVER PAGE 1. Cassandra Castellanos: Bright Angel Trail, Grand Canyon NP 2. Cassandra Castellanos: Salt River, Tonto NF 3. Allen Kelly: Yankee Doodle Trail, Prescott NF 4. Terri Gay: Arizona Trail, South of Flagstaff 5. Jeff Prince: Alto Pit Trials Riding, Prescott NF 6. Jeff Prince: Smasher Canyon, Coconino NF 7. Kyle Krause: Bill Holcomb Off-Road Challenge, Page, AZ 8. Jeff Prince: Trail Building, Flagstaff, Fort Valley System 9. BLM: Black Canyon Trail Alignment Volunteer Work 10. Terri Gay: Arizona Trail, Huachuca Mountains, Coronado NF 11. Kyle Krause: Bill Holcomb Off-Road Challenge, Page, AZ Douglas A. Ducey Governor of Arizona ARIZONA STATE PARKS BOARD R.J. Cardin Chairman Phoenix Kay Daggett Vice-Chair Sierra Vista Walter D. Armer, Jr. Vail Mark Brnovich Phoenix Vacant State Land Commissioner Phoenix This publication was prepared under the authority of the Arizona State Parks Board. Sue Black Executive Director Kent Ennis Deputy Director Jay Ream Deputy Director, Parks Arizona Trails 2015 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ARIZONA STATE PARKS Bob Baldwin, Recreational Trails Program / Off-Highway Vehicle Jeff Prince, State OHV Coordinator/Program Manager Recreation Fund Grants Coordinator (Principal Author) (Principal Author) Cassandra Castellanos, Trails Plan Coordinator Mickey Rogers, Recreational Trails Program / Off-Highway (Principal Author, data analysis) Vehicle Recreation Fund Grants Coordinator (Co-Author) Dawn Collins, Ph.D., Chief of Resources & Public Programs Katharine Schinzel, Research Project Manager (Data analysis, (Editing) technical support, editing, plan design and layout) ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY, School of Community Resources and Development, College of Public Programs and O’Neill and Associates, prepared the technical reports for this plan and conducted the surveys. Megha Budruk, Ph.D., Project Director/Principal Investigator Kathleen Andereck, Ph.D., Co-investigator Gautam Prateek, Graduate Research Assistant Eric Steffey, Graduate Research Assistant PHOTOGRAPHS PROVIDED BY: Arizona State Parks, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Forest Service, and many others. ARIZONA STATE COMMITTEE ON TRAILS (ASCOT) Laurel Arndt, Mountain Bike Association of America Craig Alden Stevens, Back Country Horsemen of Central AZ Laddie Cox, Representative-at-Large, Tucson, AZ Bill Gibson, Bureau of Land Management Richard Kesselman, Volunteers for Outdoors Arizona Bernadine McCollum, Wickenburg Conservation Foundation Jackie Keller, Representative-at-Large, Phoenix, AZ Linda Slay, Arizona Horse Council Doug Von Gausig, Representative-at-Large, Clarkdale, AZ Angela Villa, Citizen-at-large, Maricopa County, AZ Nick Lund (Chairman), TRACKS Pinetop-Lakeside, AZ Cornelia “Connie” Lane, Coronado Forest Service, Tucson, AZ Claire Miller, City of Scottsdale Lisa Gerdl, Citizen-at-large, Gilbert, AZ Patrick Kell, International Mountain Bicycling Association OFF-HIGHWAY VEHICLE ADVISORY GROUP (OHVAG) Rebecca Antle, (Chairman) AZ Association of 4-Wheel Drive Clubs Robert Quinn, Casual OHV User Bill Nash, (Vice-Chairman) Apache County ATV Roughriders Dave Williams, Apache County ATV Roughriders Thomas McArthur, Coconino Trails Riders David Moore, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation Marshal Gerston, Arizona Trail Riders Bill Bond, (Alternate) AZ ATV Trail Riders, OHV Ambassador ARIZONA OUTDOOR RECREATION COORDINATING COMMISSION (AORCC) William “Bill” Schwind, (Chairman) Community Services Director, Deborah Summers, Parks and Recreation Director, Town of City of Casa Grande, AZ Sahuarita, AZ Tiffany Broberg, Citizen-at-large, Phoenix, AZ Bryan Martyn, Arizona State Parks Wayne Lackner, Citizen-at-large, Klondyke, AZ Larry Voyles, Arizona Game and Fish Department Additional thanks to everyone who participated in the surveys. ii Arizona Trails 2015 TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ............................................................................................................................... vi CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................... 1 Definition of Trail ...................................................................................................................................... 3 Benefits of Trails ....................................................................................................................................... 3 How Can the Plan’s Information Be Used? ............................................................................................... 6 CHAPTER 2. TRAILS 2015 PLAN PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT PROCESS: A CONCURRENT STATE MOTORIZED AND NON- MOTORIZED TRAILS PLANNING PROCESS .................................................................................................. 7 Survey Questionnaire and Administration ............................................................................................... 8 Survey Objective and Classification ........................................................................................................ 11 Arizona Trails 2015 Plan compared to United States Census Data ......................................................... 13 CHAPTER 3. MOTORIZED TRAIL RECREATION IN ARIZONA ............................................................................... 15 Definitions, Related Legislation and Explanations .................................................................................. 16 Survey Findings for Motorized Trail Users .............................................................................................. 18 Motorized Trail Activity Participation in Arizona .................................................................................... 19 Motorized Recreation Opportunity ........................................................................................................ 19 A Profile of Motorized Trail Recreation in Arizona ................................................................................ 21 Motorized-Land Managers Survey .......................................................................................................... 31 Motorized Trail Priority Recommendations – Issues and Actions .......................................................... 34 Arizona State Parks OHV Program Accomplishments and Resources .................................................... 42 CHAPTER 4. A PROFILE OF NON-MOTORIZED TRAIL RECREATION IN ARIZONA .................................................... 44 Survey Findings for Non-Motorized Trail Users ...................................................................................... 45 Land Manager Survey Results ................................................................................................................. 55 Non-Motorized Trail Priority Recommendations – Issues and Actions .................................................. 57 State Trails Program Accomplishments .................................................................................................. 64 CHAPTER 5. GRANTS AND FUNDING .......................................................................................................... 67 Grants and Partnerships ......................................................................................................................... 68 Grants Application and Administration Processes .................................................................................. 77 APPENDICES A. References ......................................................................................................................................... 78 B. Relevant Trails and OHV Legislation .................................................................................................. 80 C. Timeline of Pertinent OHV Legislation and Policy Decisions ............................................................. 92 D. Arizona Trails 2015 Survey ................................................................................................................ 96 E. Arizona Trails 2015 Land Manager Survey ....................................................................................... 110 F. Responses to Public Comments Received Regarding the Draft Plan ............................................... 118 G. Relevant Trail Resources ................................................................................................................ 128 iii Arizona Trails 2015 TABLES Table 1: Age Comparison of Survey Respondent Compared to US Census Data ....................................... 13 Table 2: Gender and Marital Status of Survey Respondent Compared to US Census Data ....................... 13 Table 3: Race of Survey Respondent Compared to US Census Data .......................................................... 14 Table 4: Educational Attainment of Survey Respondent Compared to US Census Data ........................... 14 Table 5: Employment Status of Survey Respondent Compared to US Census Data .................................. 14 Table 6: Income Status of Survey Respondent Compared to US Census Data .......................................... 14 Table 7. Arizona New Off-Highway Motorcycle and ATV Retail Sales Units ............................................. 18 Table 8: Telephonic Motorized Users Participation in Motorized Trail Activity ........................................ 22 Table 9: Telephonic Mixed User Participation in Non-Motorized Trail Activity ........................................