Customer Reviews

Lightly on the Land: The SCA Trail Building and Maintenance Manual

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I build mountain bike trails, and although this book mostly talks about hiking trails, the information is good for any type of trail.

I'd disagree with the section on waterbars (not that it isn't a good description of a waterbar, I just don't find they work well/need too much maintenance), but other then that have pointed out this book to a lot of budding trail designers. The drawings are clear and so is the text. The index is good for when you need it as reference.

I look forward to wearing out this book and having to purchase another copy.

This is a basic book of American trail building practice - some of which are different from what we do in New Zealand - and from which we can learn.
The local Department of Conservation Officer (the Deprtment of Consrvation inNew Zealand is responsible for maintaining the environment in about a quarter of this country and providing access where desirable and required)), was sufficiently impressed that he immediatly asked me to order another copy.

This is a great first book for anyone to learn about trail building/maintenance. It is general enough to give a good understanding of various topics, gives enough detail to start out but I am waiting to purchase the 2 IMBA books before I put any tool into soil, because I want to build trails specifically for mountain bikes. You can only buy those on their site, and they're about twice the price, but from what I hear they are very detailed. But I still would recommend this book as a first book as it is an easy read.

Lightly on the Land is the best written reference for trail work and for conservation work; anyone involved in this type of work, be they novice or expert, should read Birkby's text. Not only is the book extremely well written, it thoroughly, yet concisely, covers an extensive number of conservation topics.

Great book for trail builders. One thing we'd question or wonder about is, we can't figure out why they try going without the use of fasteners on bridges.