Northbank Boardwalk Resurfacing
QMTB and Conservation Volunteer Program (CVP) volunteers worked to resurface the Northbank trail Boardwalk over the course of the St. Patrick’s day weekend.
The Northbank boardwalk was originally installed in the early to mid 90s along the popular trail as part of an Eagle Scout project. The decking for the boardwalk had, understandably, deteriorated over the years and was becoming unsafe, often slipery. Multiple boards had to be replaced over time but it became quickly obvious that a more permanent solution was needed.
The old boardwalk, installed in the mid 90s, was becoming unsafe, often slippery and with multiple broken boards.
Club members recently worked on several projects at Locust Shade Park, across Route 1 from Quantico Marin Corps Base (MCBQ) and used rough cut lumber for multiple structures. The lumber used in these projects was an ideal solution for the Northbank Boardwalk.
After discussing options within the QMTB Board, and communicating with our partners at Natural Resources and Environmental Affairs (NREA) aboard MCBQ it was agreed that the best solution was to replace the decking with rough cut lumber.
The process to do this started several months ago. QMTB Member Ed Galvin assisted our partners at NREA in filing a request for environmental impact review (REIR) in early November 2023. The REIR was approved in early February and shortly after, QMTB scheduled three workdays to get the process of replacing the decking finally completed.
The lumber to replace the 200’ of decking was purchased in late November and staged at Mars Hill in anticipation of the project. In all QMTB purchased 100 2x6x16 rough cut boards, 40 2x4x12 boards for edging and eight five pound boxes of 3.5” decking screws at a cost of approximately $3,300. In addition, The Club secured the use of a heavy duty trailer to transport the decking from Mars Hill to the boat launch parking area, a side by side Gator to transfer lumber, tools and materials from the boat launch area to the worksite and a Canycom to help ferry additional materials to and from the worksite. Workdays for the project were scheduled on 3/15, 3/16 and 3/17.
QMTB purchased 100 2x6x16 rough cut boards for the project in late November 2023.
Three QMTB and one CVP volunteer worked on Friday 3/15 for approximately 6 hours to cut the 100 16’ boards into the necessary 4’ length for the boardwalk and loaded them onto a trailer for transfer to the staging area along the boat launch area.
3/15 workday, prepping materials for the weekend’s work.
Work began early at 7 am on 3/16 with at least two QMTB volunteers transferring tools and materials to the worksite in anticipation of the remaining QMTB and CVP volunteer arrivals. By 9 am on 3/16 17 volunteers from QMTB and CVP were busy tearing the old boardwalk out and installing the new decking. By 2 PM that afternoon all of the old decking was removed and transferred to a designated disposal facility. By 5:30 PM that afternoon all of the new decking was attached to the boardwalk.
Early on the morning of 3/16, four QMTB volunteers and one CVP volunteer began final trim work on the deck surface. The small team moved tools and transferred 40 2x4x12 boards to the worksite and completed the project, including clean-up, by 2 PM that afternoon.
The collaborative effort yielded 134 hours of volunteer time and a beautifully new resurfaced boardwalk that’s bound to last.
