Rich Edwards of the International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA) is a trails specialist. In the course of his work, traveling the country to educate people on building sustainable natural surface trails, he has also become something of an expert on compact utility equipment, the Ditch Witch® SK500 in particular, which he considers an essential piece of machinery for any trail-building organization.

"Building trails used to be done by hand," says Edwards, chuckling at the thought. "Back then, we averaged ten feet per labor hour. With mechanized equipment, we now expect to average 30 to 35 linear feet per labor hour. So we are able to produce trails for essentially one-third of what we could before."

This tripling of productivity is drawing the attention of numerous city, state, and national park departments, as well as other government agencies such as the Army Corps of Engineers. The SK500 figures prominently into this cost-saving formula, and Edwards is eager to show anyone and everyone how. During the first week of May, for example, he conducted a workshop at the 2005 Governor's Conference on Greenways, Blueways and Trails in Richmond, Virginia.

In attendance was a diverse group of natural enthusiasts, including state park officials, landscape architects, conservationists, public health experts, and eco-tourism promoters. Edwards led a group of volunteers to a section of forest in Pocahontas State Park where, using a two-ton bulldozer and an SK500, he demonstrated how the right equipment can make the otherwise backbreaking, time-consuming process of building a trail, well, a walk in the park. After the demonstration, the State of Virginia purchased three SK500s.

Edwards conducted the workshop with the assistance of Chris Gambrell of The Charles Machine Works, Inc. (manufacturer of Ditch Witch equipment) and representatives of Ditch Witch of Virginia who provided two SK500s, an XT850 excavator-tool carrier, and an MX15 mini excavator for the demonstration.

Edwards is nearly as enthusiastic about the SK500 as he is about his work for the IMBA, whose mission is to create, enhance, and preserve trail opportunities for mountain bikers and non-bikers alike. Why? Because when he discovered compact utility equipment, he realized how much faster the IMBA's goals could be achieved.

"Mike Riter of Trail Design Specialists was the first to use a walk-behind machine to build trails with, probably about four years ago," says Edwards. "We experimented with all types of compact equipment before we tried the SK500, which we find the best for its combination of compact footprint and power. The SK500 is powerful enough to build through most terrain on its own and also works well as a finishing machine behind a SWECO trail dozer or mini excavator." He estimates that in the past two years, 150 miles of trail have been created using an SK500.

Edwards praises the SK500's stability, maneuverability, and ease of maintenance, but says the two main features that sold him are the machine's 6-way backfill blade attachment and its easy-to-use controls. "This blade is critical for the kind of work we do," he says. "We used to use a 2-way blade, which works, but the 6-way blade allows us to put the power where we want it, which makes the smaller machine more efficient." The 47-inch wide, 17-inch high 6-way backfill blade angles 30 degrees left and right, tilts ten degrees in each direction, and features a replaceable, reversible cutting edge. Edwards says he uses the 6-way blade 90 percent of the time, but also keeps a bucket attachment handy as well as a grading fork attachment for brush removal.

The SK500's color-coded, easy-to-use controls are an advantage for many reasons. One, they're similar to the controls of the SWECO bulldozer Edwards often uses for the initial clearing. Two, they're easy to master for even novice operators, which is an incentive to professional and volunteer trail-builders who never would have considered trying machinery—a group that makes up a significant percentage of Edwards' typical audience. And then there's the fatigue factor.

In his travels throughout the country, Edwards is starting to see more and more people catching on to the many benefits of the SK500s. "Of the public land agencies that we've done demos for or shown how to build trail, eight of them have purchased Ditch Witch equipment—all SK500s.

"It's an ideal unit for this type of work. We're building trails two to four feet wide, so the dimensions are right. We work in remote, forested areas, so they're easy to transport to the site. And we're working most of the time on slopes, and their long tracks give us the maneuverability and stability we need. Sometimes when the soil is softer or the conditions are wet, we'll use the SK exclusively because it won't tear up any terrain it's not supposed to. It's just a great dirt-shaping tool."