Ride 'n Work Days Held at Halsey
by Dan Nitzel, NOHVA Business Manager

On April 21 and 22 of 2006, the Nebraska Off Highway Vehicle Association held it's annual spring Ride 'n Work days at the Nebraska National Forest near Halsey. This year was the biggest turnout that we have ever had! Over 50 NOHVA member participated in the project totaling over 450 man hours of work. Nine volunteers drove nearly 300 miles one way from Omaha to volunteer time on the trails.

Most of the work took place on the Dismal River Trail, the Poison Ivy trail and the Powerline trail. NOHVA built the Dismal River trail in 2000 and the Poison Ivy and Powerline trails in 2001. Since the trails were built, NOHVA volunteers have helped maintain the trails and have funded most of the improvements and maintenance to the trails.

The main scope of the Ride 'n Work days on Friday involved cleaning out and adjusting cattle guards at fence crossings, clearing fallen tress from about 50+ miles of trails, and picking up trash along the trails. On Saturday, the Ride 'n Work day involved trimming and removing of branches and trees along the first section of the Dismal River Trail from the north trailhead to the 201 intersection. Trees were trimmed or removed along the Poison Ivy trail and the Powerline trail as well.

Since 1999, NOHVA has provided over $15,000 in direct funding of materials for trail maintenance at Halsey. All of these funds were made possible by voluntary membership fee's paid by NOHVA members. NOHVA members have volunteered thousands of hours of volunteer work to open and maintain the trails. With out the financial support that we receive from voluntary NOHVA memberships, we would not have been able to complete any of this work.

We want to thank all those that helped with this project! We encourage those who enjoy the trails at Halsey to support us in our efforts to maintain the trails at Halsey and help us encourage responsible riding behavior at the Forest by joining NOHVA.

With increasing expenses and more demands upon our organization, it is beginning to become difficult to fund and organize trail projects at Halsey. We are considering funding cuts for the trail system at Halsey as very few of the riders there support our work with memberships. With out the membership support, we would not be able to complete any of this work. If you are not a NOHVA member, please consider joining us to support recreational ATV and Dirtbike trails across Nebraska! For a NOHVA membership application, visit our membership information page.

To view the slide show below, click on the thumbnails below and use the arrows on the right and left to move from photo to photo.