WEBINAR- Trails in the Age of Climate Change: Disaster Recovery
Climate change and disaster recovery has had a significant impact on our environment—affecting various aspects of human life, including outdoor recreational activities. The impacts of climate change are affecting the quality and accessibility of multiuse trails and it is essential to take action to make these trails and greenways more resilient.
Climate change is a contributor to the more frequent and intense natural disasters across the country —such as storms, floods and droughts—which can place multiuse trails and greenways at risk. These events can lead to erosion, washouts, landslides and flooding, making these trails and greenways inaccessible and challenging communities to respond and rebuild effectively.
Join Rails-to-Trails Conservancy for an in-depth exploration of disaster recovery and resilience-building in trail infrastructure. This webinar will showcase real-world examples of how trails across the U.S. have navigated recovery from extreme events, highlighting immediate responses, long-term repairs, and efforts to increase community resilience.
Climate Change and Disaster Recovery Panelists
- Joshua Bell – Operations Manager, Operations & Landscape Management, Philadelphia Parks & Recreation – Schuylkill River Trail recovery after Hurricane Ida
- Eric Williams – Natural Resources Planner, Papio-Missouri River Natural Resources District – damage and rebuilding of the Lied Platte River Bridge
- Missy Vanlanduyt, Recreation Partnerships Section Chief at Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) & Andrew Haffele, Superintendent of Wildcat Mountain Work Unit, Bureau of Parks and Recreation Management with Wisconsin DNR – The rebuilding of the Elroy Sparta State Trail.
RELATED LINKS
- Climate Change Indicators: Connections between climate and weather
- The PROTECT program
- Explore other federal climate-related funding sources.
- Read more about creating equitable trails.
- Visit our Trails and Climate Resilience toolbox page.
- FHWA’s guidance on Trails as Resilient Infrastructure
- Advancing Trails to Support Multimodal Networks and Resilient Infrastructure webinar
- Trails and Resilience: Review of the Role of Trails in Climate Resilience and Emergency Response
- Learn about the work of the National Park Service (Rivers, Trails and Conservation Assistance) in Natural Disaster Recovery.
- Pedestrian and Bicycle Info Center lists Resources and Tools
- Learn more about the Schuylkill River Trail on TrailLink
- View a map of the trail
- Check out the Wissahickon Trail system.
RTC’s TrailNation Collaborative, Trail Development and Policy teams produce a free webinar series designed to help trail professionals build, grow, manage, maintain, promote or otherwise support trails and trail networks. Sign up here to get webinar alerts.
Have a comment or question on our webinar series? Contact us below with topic or speaker ideas. We appreciate your feedback! Email us.
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