eBarrows Leading The Way In Sustainable Trail Care

Getting the balance between building and maintaining a fun twisting trail, whilst having minimal impact on the environment can a tricky business. Naturally, one of the prime aims of the Northside Trail Care Alliance (NTCA) is to manage and improve the sustainability of their trail networks with minimal disturbance to the surrounding flora and fauna.

For those not familiar with the NTCA, this is a volunteer organisation helps maintain the trails within Bunyaville and Samford Conservation Parks.

One of the key principals that has been cultivated into the organisation via Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service and the NTCA’s founding volunteers, is to be mindful of the impact of maintenance activities, methodology and equipment used. Machinery that professional trail builders utilise has its place, however for general maintenance, manual labor with shovel, crowbar, mattock, fireman’s rake and wheelbarrows are key to minimalising the disturbance to the surrounding flora and fauna.

With this in mind, some time ago, one of the groups dedicated volunteers, Matthew Dunn began to tinker and prototype an electric wheelbarrow. This electric wheelbarrow sought minimise damage the trail surface and have the same footprint as a normal wheelbarrow, whilst also assisting and improving the safety for volunteers when transporting materials and tools up or down the narrow, and sometimes steep trails.

In 2017, the first fully working prototype made its debut at a trail care session. It was a true productivity multiplier, dramatically improving the amount of work that could be achieved. This changed the game on how the NTCA planned and completed tasks. The eBarrow has since been developed into a commercial product, and in 2021 Hero Dirt Industries was formed to meet the demand in the trail care industry.

This year, the North Brisbane Mountain Bike Club - the parent organisation of NTCA - received an equipment grant from Moreton Bay Regional Council and last month took delivery of a Hero Dirt Industries electric barrow. The club was also able to purchase a new gazeebo that will be used for trail care and club events.

However, Hero Dirt Industries’ prototyping has not ended there. Currently, a custom battery powered tiller is in development, which will be designed to assist in the creation and maintenance of drainage. This is another very low impact tool that greatly improves ability of the NTCA to further improve the sustainability the trails they help to maintain.

Head over to the NTCA’s Facebook page for more information https://www.facebook.com/NorthsideTrailCareAlliance

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