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Committee backs Forest Service request for Mount Elden trail design funding
Summary
The committee voted unanimously to send a letter supporting a Coconino National Forest Transportation Alternatives grant to design (and potentially build) about 5½ miles of urban trail across the base of Mount Elden, connecting Buffalo Park to trailheads at the city boundary.
The Pedestrian Advisory Committee voted 4-0 to approve a letter of support for the Coconino National Forest’s Transportation Alternatives grant application to design an urban trail across the base of Mount Elden.
The letter supports an ADOT Transportation Alternatives grant that would fund design work and help position the project for future construction funding. Pat McGurvey, recreation staff in the Flagstaff District of the Coconino National Forest, told the committee the proposal would build roughly 5.5 miles of trail linking Lookout Road near Buffalo Park, the Forest Service ranger station at El Paso on the east side, and the city boundary at Snowflake, continuing toward the Sandy Seap Trailhead and Stoney Park. “We’re looking for this ADOT grant to help us with design and then hopefully construction after that,” McGurvey said.
Why it matters: committee members said a single higher-developed route through the braided trails at the base of Mount Elden would help people navigate the area and reduce user confusion. McGurvey said portions of the route would use an existing logging-road footprint from the Blackstock Watershed Protection Project and be surfaced with a compacted crushed-aggregate section about 48 inches wide (a 4-inch base with a 2-inch crushed-granite lift), similar to other city-managed trails.
Committee discussion and timeline: committee members asked whether informal “braided” trails would be abandoned or preserved; McGurvey said roughly 10 miles of trail in the zone are slated either for adoption into the official system or for reroutes, and some redundant trails would be obliterated to steer users to the system routes. McGurvey said the Forest Service hopes to submit the grant by next Friday and requested a letter of support to include with the application. The committee moved and seconded a motion using the draft letter provided in the meeting packet and approved it by a vote of 4 to nothing.
Next steps: staff said they will format the approved letter onto city letterhead for signature and return it to Forest Service staff for inclusion in the grant packet.
