Who Maintains Waterdog’s Trails?

The Parks and Recreation Department does not have unlimited resources for labor-intensive trail maintenance projects. Thanks to the mountain biking community, the department has been able fill the gap by leveraging volunteer efforts to keep Waterdog’s trails maintained and sustainable.

Volunteers have worked closely with the Parks and Recreation Department to enhance and improve trail conditions for all users at Water Dog Park. Projects are only done with approval of the Parks and Recreation Department and under its supervision. The volunteers come from our extended community, not just Belmont residents. In fact, the largest volunteer group, the Waterdog Trailkeepers, is led by a respected physician and mountain biker who happens to be a resident of San Mateo. The vast majority of trail maintenance volunteers are from the mountain biking community.

From February 2019 to February 2021, there have been 40 separate trail maintenance days with over 800 volunteer hours and 183 volunteers committed to the maintenance and improvement of trails at Waterdog. One of the largest projects the group has undertaken was to fix the drainage issue on the Lake Loop trail in February 2020, which involved 24 volunteers with over 120 volunteer hours to complete. Projects like this have improved trail conditions for all trail users and ensure the continued safety and viability of existing trails while minimizing the impact to surrounding areas.