South Carolina OHV Club Makes Massive Effort to Remediate Hurricane Damage to Trails

The 2024 hurricane season was obviously devastating to the Southern United States, with Hurricanes Helen and Debby tragically taking lives, causing billions of dollars in damage, and leaving many without homes, utilities, and roads. While they could not solve all the problems themselves, Chris and Stephanie Ferraro knew that repairing damage and restoring access to their local trail systems would be important to the healing and mental well-being of their community. 

Chris and Stephanie are both avid dirt bike riders (Chris is the NOHVCC South Carolina Sate Partner), along with being professional race car drivers and instructors and parents to three grown children, who got heavily involved with trail stewardship when they were asked to serve as trail hosts for the Wambaw Trail System outside Charleston, South Carolina. This 40-mile trail system had been a part of Chris’s life growing up and had become important to both Chris and Stephanie as it was the only motorized trail system within a two-hour drive of Charleston. The Ferraros committed to serve as the trail hosts for five years and got to work. They relied on trial by fire, learning as they went, and gaining knowledge from local trail experts like NOHVCC North Carolina State Partner Bill Blythe. While working under partnership with the Forest Service on Wambaw Trail System it was recommended that they create a nonprofit organization so that they could enter challenge cost share or memorandum of understanding (MOU) agreements so that they could potentially recover some of the costs of maintaining the trails that was being funded out of their own pockets. Thus, Southern Trail Advocates and Riders, or STAR, was born. 

Fast Forward a few years, and Chris and Stephanie are still conducting trail work, largely financed with their own money (They had received fundraising support to purchase trail grooming equipment and did receive a grant from the Right Rider Access Fund for $20,000 to conduct trail maintenance at Wambaw).  In 2024, Debby and Helene battered the South, and both state and federal land managers were facing massive clean-up efforts. Chris and Stephanie were told it would be at least a year before the Forest Service would even be able to assess the trail damage and trails would likely be closed indefinitely until repairs could take place. After Hurricane Debby Chris and Stephanie went to work cleaning up the Wambaw Trail System where sandy trails were washed away by the storm. Chris and Stephanie spent countless hours filling in holes, repairing tread, and returning trails to standard. Their work led to trails being opened, with a little nudge from their congressional representatives, way ahead of schedule. 

Soon other land managers came calling, knowing that there was no way local trails would be reopened without volunteer support. Chris, Stephanie, and a troop of dedicated volunteers agreed to work on Enoree, Parsons Mountain, and Cedar Springs system. This involved removing an astronomical number of downed trees, restoring drainage, repairing trail tread, replacing or repairing signs, and just general clean-up. STAR is now responsible for hurricane remediation on 146 miles of OHV trail. Chris and Stephanie said this would not have been possible without public support, dedicated volunteers, and the Right Rider Access Fund allowing them to modify their scope to work on trails outside the Wambaw Trail System.

Chris and Stephanie are by no means millionaires, they work hard at their day jobs and participate in a full national racing schedule, yet they continue to invest personal time and monies into South Carolina OHV trails out of their love of the sport. “I know how important trails and riding are to people’s physical and mental health,” said Stephanie. “We just do this because we love helping out riders and supporting our community” added Chris. 

When the Ferraros aren’t doing trail work they are promoting OHV rides for disabled veterans and children so that they can enjoy public land access, and they also host a small beginner track on their property which people can use. You might even catch some riding tips from Chris and Stephanie, all they ask in return is a small donation to help keep the trails open. Thank you, Chris and Stephanie Ferraro, for providing a positive future for OHV recreation. 

To find out more about STAR please reach out to teamferraro@aol.com

To find out more about the Right Rider Access Fund please click visit www.riderfund.org. 

Check out more photos of the massive storm damage to the trails below: