Feature - Wealth Of Trails Leads PA Towns To New Promise On The Horizon

At recent workshops, focus groups and surveys of public recreational preferences, trails emerge as the number one amenity for Pennsylvania. Trails are valued for the connection they offer between home, school and work, the opportunity for healthy exercise, and the chance for family togetherness.

 

The underlying message is that trails open the door to the outdoors.

 

One of the legacies of Pennsylvania’s industrial past is a vast network of logging, mining and other short-line rail corridors and canal towpaths. The Commonwealth now leads the nation in converting these corridors as places to walk, ride and explore.

 

Over the past six months, my husband and I launched ourselves on a voyage of exploration to experience this fast-growing segment of the trail world—the rail trail. We rode on trestles spanning rivers, glimpsed eagles in the sky, and enjoyed being close to nature.

 

Most memorable, however, were the people we saw enjoying those trails: an older plain sect couple on a tandem bicycle on the Lebanon Rail Trail; two girls horseback riding on the York Heritage Rail Trail with little brother following on a pony; a volunteer towing a trailer of tools to maintain the Allegheny Trail system; a large church group walking for the relief of world hunger; and a young couple camping on the side of the Pine Creek Trail.

 

These rail trails are only one segment of the trail systems that are under development across Pennsylvania. Another way to enjoy the outdoors is the fast growing system of water trails. The Commonwealth has almost 54,000 miles of rivers and streams. Many of these served as the earliest transportation and trade routes including access to the mighty Mississippi drainage.

 

Rivers and streams are being rediscovered by communities for their scenic and recreational value. Anglers have long known the quality of our water; now paddlers are launching their kayaks and canoes. The Fish and Boat Commission has led the way with an innovative system of water trails with map guides, information at commission access points and, of course, a website.

 

Other trails in the Commonwealth range from local nature trails to large regional systems: the Delaware and Lehigh Trail Corridor—120 miles long and stretching from Wilkes-Barre to Bristol Borough in Bucks County—and the Great Allegheny Passage, where a bicyclist can start in Pittsburgh, connect to the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, and ride into Washington D.C.

 

Our state forests and state parks offer many opportunities, from strenuous hiking to leisurely strolling. Pennsylvania also hosts the best-known hiking trail in the nation—the Appalachian Trail traversing the state from the Northern New Jersey border to the Maryland line.

 

Pennsylvania communities are seeing the value of connecting to these larger trail corridors. It enhances their town’s quality of life with close-to-home recreation and also brings more vitality and business to their downtowns.

 

The Allegheny Trail Alliance has developed an entire program to help communities along the Great Allegheny Passage take advantage of the economic opportunity that arises around—and often walks into—their towns.

 

Assistance includes a trail town guide book, community planning programs, targeted infrastructure investments and even a loan program for mall businesses. The Delaware and Lehigh Canal National Heritage Corridor Commission and the Schuylkill River National and State Heritage Areas also offer assistance to connect communities to the opportunities brought by trail users.

 

Evidence from public input and from on-the-ground observation is clear: trails are a growing priority. However, as the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources develops the Commonwealth’s next Outdoor Recreation Plan (2009-2013), challenges are also clear. How to fund the next round of development grants, how to maintain the hundreds of miles trails already in use, how to fill the gaps in existing trail systems, and how to ensure the connection to communities and our public lands?

 

As we work on other priorities like greening the department’s grant programs and ensuring our grants are available to citizens through an eGrant system, we must find time to tackle the needs of our trail infrastructure.

 

Fortunately, we have many partners. There are other agencies, to be sure, such as Penn Dot and the National Park Service, but, more significantly, we value efforts of local governments and on-the-ground volunteer organizations.

 

We look forward to working with you on this exciting challenge.

 

 

 

Trail Towns: Capturing Trail-Based Tourism--A Guide for Communities in Pennsylvania (2005)

 

 

 

Reprinted from the DCNR Resource online newsletter.