Equestrian park reopened at Hacklebarney Trail following board vote

After a lengthy discussion, the Montgomery County Conservation Board has voted to re-open the closed equestrian park at Hacklebarney Trail.
The site was initially planned for closure by the conservation board from Dec. 4 – Feb. 1, as a protective measure for horseback riders, as Hacklebarney is shared by both hunters and horseback riders, as well as due to the resignation of Montgomery County Conservation Director Casey Holmes.
The decision, however, was met with questions from members of Friends of Hacklebarney Trails. The group’s President, JoAnn Houser, and Secretary, Michelle Jordan, both met with the conservation board at its regular meeting Dec. 27. Houser was not in favor of the closure especially as their organization had done a lot of rehab to the park.
“We’ve raised a lot of money, as you know, and put a lot of effort into the park. The group as a whole has built trails, put in campsites, power, and benches, and many of us have gotten our husbands and power equipment and raked gravel onto trails because we had the understanding if the park had an all-weather trail, the park would be open to trail riders year round,” Houser commented. “So we did all that work and made all of these great trails, and now we understand that the trail is closed in the interim after we got all of these donations, and told people that it would be open all year.”
Houser said their request was simple. They wanted the closure lifted, and would take the necessary precautions during hunting season.
“We’ll continue to wear orange, we’ll provide signage, we’ll do whatever we need so that we can both co-exist in the park,” commented Houser.
Montgomery County Conservation Board President Kirk Requist said they had a couple of issues in the past with horses coming through there, and Houser said while she understood it could be an issue, at the same time, their group is the one that have raised the money and made the improvements, a point the conservation board was aware of.
Pat Victor, who served on the conservation board and who also was Vice President of Friends of Hacklebarney Trails said the main drive behind the closure was due to the lack of a director, and fear of liability concerns, though that was about to change. Victor said she had planned to propose the trail be reopened to equestrian riders on Jan. 1, 2022.
Jordan had compiled information that she presented to the board that outlined the work they had done, and shared information on safety from the DNR, which said incidents occurred equally between hunters using rifles or shotguns, and most of the incidents were self-inflicted. The situations of a non-hunting citizen, such as an equestrian rider, being wounded, was nearly non-existent.
“I’ve called a number of parks that are open during hunting season. One park will close for three days if they are overpopulated for a special hunt, and there are some that close for a few days during shotgun season due to the way the park is set up and the number of hunters present. All of the parks I’m referencing are ones that have horse trails,” Jordan advised.
While saying there were other parks she could travel to that had both hunting and horseback riding, Hacklebarney was special since it was so close to home, and had great trails and more timber  than other parks.
Jordan also cited that while the current closure was in place for riders, it was still open for hikers, dog-walkers, and fisherman, and so she was uncertain why it was less safe for riders than it was for others who were still allowed to use the trail during hunting season.
Jordan read from a letter from a Cass County resident, and the question was raised about the dates of the closures. As an example, Jordan said shotgun season was from Dec. 4-19,  and late muzzleloader season ended Jan. 10. Also, no deer season lasted past Jan. 10, so the letter asked the conservation board why the closure was extended all the way to Feb. 1.
Victor reiterated that they had an unusual problem this year, as they were between conservation directors; however, conservation board member Jon Spunaugle highlighted that there was no enforcement that could be done anyway, since the director had no ability to back up any enforcement.
“I think there can be a very good compromise here. To me, the most dangerous thing is deer hunting over the first two seasons, as there are a lot of hunters pushing through there. I think for liability, that’s not a bad time to temporarily close the trail. I know of two big groups that hunt during the first and second seasons, and that can be a dangerous situation,” Spunagule advised.
Victor selected a counter-compromise, and suggested a closure during the three weekends of shotgun season, which this year would have fallen during Dec. 4-19.  Spunaugle did feel that a closure was warranted during that period, as that was the only season where it was legal to party hunt, whereas the other seasons, the hunters were in a tree or hunting by themselves.
Conservation board member Mark Peterson was also in favor of Spunaugle’s suggestion to temporarily close the trail during shotgun hunting season. It was also suggested that the three-week closure be for everyone except hunters.
Jordan asked if Hacklebarney could be closed to hunters, as the equestrians had done the majority of fundraising and work to improve the trail, but was advised that the trail could not be closed off to hunters who chose to use the trail, as it was a public area.
Since the dates for the 2022 shotgun season had not yet been finalized, the conservation board agreed to open the trail to equestrian riders as of Dec. 28, and agreed to revisit the dates of closure for shotgun season for everyone except hunters after the official dates for shotgun season in 2022 were announced.  
The Conservaton Board members and Friends of Hacklebarney Trail members also agreed to post more signage advising wearing orange, and clearly marking areas for equestrian riders to use the trail.