Who paid for equestrian parking lot at Custer?

[awfulkanawful]

Just curious as the whether or not the equestrians covered the cost of their parking lot at Custer, as the MMBA did for the mountainbiking trailhead? I am certainly pleased they no longer use the parking lot that the MMBA paid for as their personal toilet anymore. However, I was just wondering if the much needed repaving of the main road at Custer that EVERYBODY uses had to be put on the back burner to fund what was clearly a very expensive project. As a mountainbiker I would be disgusted (but not at all surprised) yet again by the selfishness of the equetrian lobby. And as a taxpayer, outraged at the blatant malfeasance.

And man, HB4684....that's a real hoot too. I hate to feel such bitterness toward my fellow man.

[dennismurphy]

From what I understand the DNR paid for the equestrian lot as well as paid thousands to have a mechanized trail build for the equestrians - apparently the horse riders don't actually build trails themselves...

If this is incorrect I will wait to be corrected

[Washington Rider]

I think you are correct Dennis. Overall, I think you can look at this as a good thing or a bad thing.

I have mentioned elsewhere that equestrians do build and maintain trails, just not anywhere where we can see them. I have to take this at face value as I don't spend my weekends reviewing horse trails. However, it was clear the particular group of equestrians encroaching on our trails at Custer had no intention of buildilng trails, only using ours.

In this case, I believe the DNR was truly making an effort to expedite and help us get our trails back. We were so mired down in 'who gets how much' discussions with the equestrians that it would have taken years to sort out. Our dedicated brothers and sisters who maintain Ft. Custer took one for the team by giving up a significant amount of trail in order to reach a resolution. What we got in return was the ability to build trail elsewhere with the same agreement for the equestrians. Of course, we had people on the ground cutting trail within seconds while the equestrians cried foul asking who was going to build trail for them.

Park management continued to lack forward progress for fear of showing favortism towards us (my personal opinion). Senior leadership 'suggested' they hire out to build trail for the equestrians so we could have resolution sooner than later. The trailhead parking was a part of this same thinking.

I applaud the DNR for taking action to help us get back to riding. Yes, it cost us $ that could have been used elsewhere. My bigger concern is the equestrians will begin to develop an 'entitlement' approach to trail building.

DNR did indicate they would hold the equestrians accountable for maintaining their new trail. In fact, they would require this of all user groups, including us. We would be well suited to live up to this but have not seen any teeth to back this concept up yet. It is probably something we should revisit at our next state level meeting.

[awfulkanawful]

Meanwhile the equestrians are back to their full court press in Lansing to access the rest of the trails at Custer and everywhere else in the state. So what exactly are we applauding the DNR for? Sounds to me like the MMBA got suckered by a certain land manager at Fort Custer who we all know has a history in equine sports. That money spent on the equestrians should have came with strings; like, howabout a binding irreversible resolution. Boondoggle, graft, malfeasance, misdirection, cronyism, and fraud. I can barely drive my car to the trailhead the road at Custer is so bad, while the horses asses have their own personal Taj Majal. This whole thing reeks to high heaven of corruption of the highest magnitude. I personally am beyond infuriated and demand a public inquiry of the so called "senior leadership" for the misappropriation of funds under false pretenses.

[Static_Crash]

Regarding your inquiry about the repair of Ft. Custer Drive; I have been told the engineer responsible for the survey quit his job and took all of the info needed to pave it, and that the schedule to complete the project is now unknown.

I think the sacrifices we've made for trail separation were worth it, despite how lopsided things may have turned out. We'll see how things go in the long run, but I am glad we can now ride the Fort free of horses and their "deposits".

[awfulkanawful]

I think the sacrifices we've made for trail separation were worth it, despite how lopsided things may have turned out. We'll see how things go in the long run, but I am glad we can now ride the Fort free of horses and their "deposits".[/quote]

I sure don't mean to diminish the work the mmba has done. I surely couldn't do what they do. we conceded far too much and They obviously still have designs on the whole enchilada....they were simply emboldened by the coup they pulled and will stop at nothing to keep throwing us under the bus. The time to be nice was over with a long time ago... Don't be a bunch of gullible saps anymore and take the fight right up in their grill. I hope they choke on their ill gotten gains.