Kingman Field Office
| Contacts: | Mike Brown, Public Affairs Specialist, (928) 718-3756 |
Celebrate National Trails Day at Foothills Rim Trail
Kingman, Ariz. – The first two loops of the new Foothills Rim Trail are completed. The public is invited to join trail volunteers and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Kingman Field Office on Saturday, June 4, 2011, 8:00 a.m. at the Coyote Pass Trailhead five miles northeast of Kingman to celebrate National Trails Day and hike, bike, or ride their horse on the new trails.
“It’s simply amazing that half of the new Foothills Rim Trail – over five miles – has been built in less than 90 days,” said BLM Outdoor Recreation Planner Len Marceau.“The project started as a grassroots effort among local mountain bike enthusiasts and grew from there.”
Marceau added that local volunteers designed the trail and it was approved by the BLM. The first volunteer “trail building” day was done on March 12, 2011, and volunteers continued working ever since. Local Back Country Horsemen used their horses to pack water to the volunteers as the work progressed further from the starting point.
“We were fortunate to get some American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Stimulus) funding that was not used in other states,” Marceau continued. “The funding allowed us to bring in the Coconino Rural Environment Corps (CREC) trail building teams on three occasions which helped continue the volunteers’ work.”
CREC is a youth organization based in Flagstaff, Arizona. The Corps’ trail crews consist of eight people ages 18-25 and a leader who travel to locations in the Southwest and build trail or do other outdoor projects.
When completed, the Foothills Rim Trail will be approximately 10 miles long and will expand the non-motorized trails from 19 miles to 29 miles within the Cerbat Foothills Recreation Area. The Camp Beale Loop, Badger and Castle Rock Trails are within the Cerbat Foothills Recreation Area. The trails are open to hikers, mountain bikers and equestrian riders. The Cerbat Foothills Recreation Area is a joint effort between the City of Kingman, Arizona Game and Fish Department, and the BLM.
Hikers, bikers, and horseback riders should bring water, lunch or snacks, and wear a hat, long-sleeved shirt, long pants and proper foot wear. BLM staff will provide additional water. For more information about the Trails Day hike at Foothills Rim Trail, contact Len Marceau, BLM Outdoor Recreation Planner, at 928-718-3724 or by email, Len_Marceau@blm.gov.
The BLM manages more than 245 million acres of public land, the most of any Federal agency. This land, known as the National System of Public Lands, is primarily located in 12 Western states, including Alaska. The BLM also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation. In Fiscal Year (FY) 2011, recreational and other activities on BLM-managed land contributed more than $130 billion to the U.S. economy and supported more than 600,000 American jobs. The Bureau is also one of a handful of agencies that collects more revenue than it spends. In FY 2012, nearly $5.7 billion will be generated on lands managed by the BLM, which operates on a $1.1 billion budget. The BLM's multiple-use mission is to sustain the health and productivity of the public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations. The Bureau accomplishes this by managing such activities as outdoor recreation, livestock grazing, mineral development, and energy production, and by conserving natural, historical, cultural, and other resources on public lands.