by Blake Herzog, Photos courtesy of Back Country Horsemen of Central Arizona
The “back country” beckons. Rugged and hard to access, undeveloped rural areas hold out the promise of adventure, wildlife, tests of skills and feats of strength and will. Yet every person who enters brings the wildlands a little closer to their development and demise.
Greater Prescott-based Back Country Horsemen of Central Arizona is a nonprofit organization that puts countless hours into improving nonmotorized trail access to vast stretches of the hinterlands while educating outdoorspeople about how to enjoy them without robbing them of their unrivaled beauty and seclusion.
Craig Ferdig of Prescott Valley, former president of Back Country Horsemen of Central Arizona and vice chairman of Back Country Horsemen of America, says the national group was formed 51 years ago when some advocates questioned whether horses and similar animals should be permitted in wilderness areas, mobilizing a group of owners in Montana to organize. Then a storm hit another part of Montana, wiping out all the roads.
“And the only way to get them their supplies was through pack animals and helping out with the Forest Service. And it completely changed the tone of the public lands groups at the time that they realized that there’s a need for horses in the back country,” Ferdig says.
Much of the group’s recent work has been focused on and around the Williamson Valley trailhead, where it recently took over maintenance and cleared out weeds and brought in 20 tons of rock to fill holes in the parking area.
“We painted the kiosk and we also put bike bells out, which is something that is free to the bikers. They just come in, they just grab a bike bell and they velcro it to their bikes. And it helps because then equestrians and hikers can hear the bikers coming,” Timmel says. Volunteers also have worked their way over the popular Willow and Mint Wash trails nearby to improve them.
Timmel says trail maintenance work isn’t as intimidating as it might sound for older or less physically fit participants, since in many cases volunteers can ride in on their horses, mules or other stock animals.
“We were able to start a program here where we were able to ride in; we ride in with our tools, and we have loppers attached to the back of the saddle. So, we just ride in and then we get off and we do our work, and the horses just sit and graze and hang out. And it’s worked really nicely, gotten more people involved,” she says.
Back Country Horsemen of Central Arizona organizes several trail rides and social events every year and serves breakfast at the annual Arizona Cowboy Poets Gathering in August. This April it will host the national Back Country Horsemen of America director’s meeting at Prescott Resort, with about 70 representatives from across the country hashing out the coming year’s priorities and platforms — “It’s like the Senate having a meeting,” says Ferdig, who’s scheduled to take over as president during the event.
For more information about the local group’s programs and how to join, visit www.bchcaz.org or the group’s Facebook page or email
bchcaz@gmail.com.
The countrywide group became partners with the U.S. Forest Service on the construction and maintenance of wilderness areas throughout the nation, and about 260 local chapters have been formed in 31 states. A Flagstaff chapter closed, and the charter was offered to Prescott-area equestrians, who formed Back Country Horsemen of Central Arizona in 2005.
It now is Arizona’s largest chapter.
“So for all these years, we’ve been doing trail work, education on trail etiquette, and now at this point, we’ve really grown to over a hundred plus members,” current President Wendy Timmel says. “We work with the Yavapai Trail Association and the Prescott Mountain Bike Alliance. We all have the same goal and that is keeping the trails open and keeping them groomed and maintained.”
Members of the local group contributed at least $20,000 worth of labor and materials toward maintaining 400 miles of trails in its territory, which includes the Prescott, Verde Valley and Sedona/Red Rocks areas, Ferdig says. The national group contributed $12 million across millions of miles last year, he says, supplementing the $10 million budget available to the Forest Service.
