Trail help needed at Moore

To celebrate National Trails Day, an outdoor group is hoping volunteers will come out Saturday to help clear a new trail on the Moore Open Space.

The corridor will be cleared for what will be the Moore Open Space Nordic and Interpretive Trail, a cross-country ski trail connection from the new Maroon Creek pedestrian bridge to the existing nordic system. The corridor will be a quarter-mile long, and volunteers are needed to clear and reseed the new trail with native grasses.

Roaring Fork Outdoor Volunteers is sponsoring the event, along with the city of Aspen and Pitkin County Open Space and Trails.

“Volunteers will be cutting the bigger stuff out and digging up smaller things for transplant to Jaffee Park,” said David Hamilton of Roaring Fork Outdoor Volunteers. “It will be cool to be salvaging those plants.”

Plants that will be saved include mature sagebrush, rabbitbrush, Gambel oak and serviceberry.

The new trail will be 6 feet wide to accommodate snow-grooming equipment in the winter, and will provide a new access point and good tie-in to Aspen’s already extensive nordic system in the winter, Hamilton said.

“With the new bridge, it’s a whole new world out there,” he said. “It’s pretty exciting for our nordic trails.”

Eventually, an interpretive loop with informational signs will be added in the area, which could be used for a short hike near the schools. That phase of the project will happen at a later date, Hamilton said.

National Trails Day is held on the first Saturday of June and is coordinated nationally by the American Hiking Society, a national nonprofit trails organization.

Saturday’s activities are from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. The event’s sponsors will provide tools, materials and lunch at the end of the day.

Volunteers should park at the Aspen Chapel at the intersection of Castle Creek and Maroon Creek roads, and walk over to the park-and-ride next to the Aspen roundabout at 8:30 a.m. Work gloves, heavy shoes and appropriate clothing for the day should be worn, and volunteers should bring their own water.

Contact Roaring Fork Outdoor Volunteers at 927-8241 or rfov@sopris.net with questions or to preregister. Preregistration is not necessary, but would help organizers determine how many tools will be needed.

[Naomi Havlen’s e-mail address is nhavlen@aspentimes.com]