Thankfully, we are in a rare opportunity to construct and improve a new trail system for not just us but a large cross section of users. The purpose of this thread is informational, If you have something to add please feel free to. What I envision is a repository of reference books, links, post and images that will help us build proper trails at AAOA. I have some experience in doing this from Appalachian Trail work I did as a Eagle scout service project. The biggest references I used were books "Lightly on the Land" and the Boyscout Field Manual which has chapters on constructing footpaths, while this may not seem like it applies to jeep trails, It does, and taking steps to control soil erosion during trail cutting makes for a long lasting trails that remain open. How many awesome trails are closed now due to erosion at Telco? One of the simplest methods in constructing water bars, these have a dual purpose of retaining soil on the trail bed and diverting water flow to the side of the trail and dispersing it to the side. Below is just the first couple of links that came up in my search. Start looking things over and look for information we can adapt to these projects at AAOA.
http://www.americantrails.org/resources/trailbuilding/index.htmlhttp://www.imba.com/resources/trail-buildinghttp://www.mtbresource.com/TrailBuilding.htmlhttp://www.railstotrails.org/ourWork/trailBuilding/toolbox/index.html
