On a separate track

Cape Elizabeth Conservation Commission may ban horses from Greenbelt Trail if conditions continue to deteriorate.

Decker, a four-year-old Morgan, is the newest border
 at the 22-acre Shady Oak Farm in Cape Elizabeth,
 belonging to Kelly Strout, left, and her husband, Andy.
 But Decker’s owner, Ashley Gartland, right, of South
 Portland, may not get to ride him on local trails if an
 agreement can’t be reached with the town’s
Conservation Commission.

CAPE ELIZABETH — Although this story is nominally about horses, it starts with a giant elephant.

The Cape Elizabeth Conservation Commission invited members of the town’s horse riding community to its March 29 meeting to discuss issues surrounding the town’s 33.5-mile Greenbelt Trail. Horse owners were glad to hear that town crews had last week replaced a culvert near Great Pond that’s been a longstanding problem for them and, after mapping out areas most used by horse riders, turned talk to three bridges inadequate to horse weight.

But then, after 15 minutes of polite conversation, commissioner John Planinsek said the time had come to “address the elephant in the room.”

“One of my big concerns has been the use of horses in the fields in Gulf Crest,” he said, referring to the largest, 18.3-mile section of the trail system.

Damage done to the trail system by horses, especially this time of year, has been a long-simmering issue, Planinsek said, suggesting it may be time to create a “separate but equal” place for horses in Gulf Crest. Segregating horses from runners and dog walkers now, Planinsek said, is the best way to avoid more drastic measures later, such as a ban of horses on the trails altogether.

“We spent quite a lot of money putting gravel down through muddy stretches there,” said Planinsek, adding that the high school track team also uses that trail for meets and, in the past, has had to cancel events due to soggy conditions. “With horses going through there it’s getting dug up with three- and four-inch deep holes.”

“Because of the people who are going out all the time and chewing up the trails, the conservation commission is talking about potentially closing the trails,” explained Town Planner Maureen O’Meara. “Those folks could end up creating a problem for everybody.”

O’Meara said the issue has not quite reached the level of four years ago, when commission members were “furious” with mountain bikers who were tearing up the trails in Winnick Woods. The commission was “very close” to banning bikes, said O’Meara, when a mountain bike group agreed to undertake regular conservation and repair measures.

“We now point to the mountain bikers as a successful partnership,” O’Meara told the horse owners. “I didn’t want to be the person to say this, but you don’t want to get to the point where the mountain bikers were. Closing trails is a last choice, but it’s a distinct possibility.”

The horse owners took no apparent offense at the implied threat. Although local equestrians are very conscientious about cleaning up after their animals, carrying shovels and bags on rides for just that purpose, they admitted mud is a messy problem for all involved.

“We totally understand that horses can do some damage, especially if they are using an area over and over and over again,” said Kelly Strout, who boards 23 horses at her 22-acre Shady Oak Farm on Fowler Road, including seven that are regular trail users. “It does get muddy and it’s not good. We don’t want to ruin the trails, but we also do want trails to ride on.”

“Mud is not a good thing for our pocketbooks, either,” said Robin Mills, who keeps 13 horses, including five trail users, at her stable on Old Sea Point Road. “Losing a shoe is $100 down the tubes.

“The [Greenbelt] trail is the only riding we have,” said Mills. “We have the beaches for a couple of months, but there’s nothing else except for going in circles in our arenas. So, I know everyone will do what they can.”

Mills said she and Strout will advise their fellow riders to avoid the trails for the time being, until a solution can be reached. Toward that end, a site walk was scheduled for noon on Thursday, April 5. Conservation commission members will meet with horse riders at the community gardens parking lot by the football field and tour the trails together.

This issue of horses on the trails will then be on the agenda for the commission’s April 10 meeting, which kicks off at 7 p.m. in the planning office conference room, on the second floor of town hall.

“At the end of the day, we really are just trying to get the highest and best use out of these trails, in a passive way, for everyone,” said Garvan Donegan, commission chairman.

The commission gets $8,000 per year for trail maintenance, most of which is mowing work done by one part-time maintenance person, with volunteer help from commission members and, occasionally, town road crews.

“We have an open space management plan that says these are multi-use trials, but the standard of use that we can afford to target is for the pedestrian user,” said O’Meara. “The challenge is that when you have the more intensive users taking the trial to a condition where not even the pedestrian user can use it, that’s when I see the Conservation Commission start to push back.”