Local Organizing Page 5

White River State Trail | Photo by Traillink user dj123_45

Moms Blazing A Trail: Connecting the Route of the Badger in Union Grove, Wisconsin

Posted 03/14/18 by Katie Newcomb, Willie Karidis in Building Trails, America's Trails | Tagged with Demand for Trails, Funding, Health and Active Living, Local Organizing, Maintenance and Volunteers, Route of the Badger, State and Federal Programs, Tourism and Economic Development, Tourism and Economic Stimulus, TrailNation, TrailsTransform, Wisconsin

Two moms balancing work, family and the urge to reconnect with nature, Petrick and Gallagher have dedicated themselves to establishing and raising awareness for the Union Grove Rails to Trails movement—an initiative to convert the Canadian Pacific Railway Corridor, an 11-mile abandoned rail corridor between Vandenboom Road and Sturtevant, into a hiking and biking trail. The new trail would extend the White River State Trail in Burlington to trails very close to Racine and to Lake Michigan.

Hudson River Valley Greenway, a segment of the developing Empire State Trail in New York | Photo by Scott Stark

State Policy Snapshot: A Look at Trail Funding and Advocacy in 2017 and Beyond

Posted 03/01/18 by Andrew Dupuy in Policy, Success Stories | Tagged with BATC, California, Caracara, Circuit Trails, Demand for Trails, Facts and FIgures, Florida, Funding, IHTC, Local Organizing, Miami LOOP, New York, Ohio, State and Federal Programs, Success Stories, Tennessee, TrailNation, TrailsTransform

Rails-to-Trails Conservancy monitors state legislative houses across the country to look for opportunities to advocate for new and innovative funding programs—as well defend and support trail funding under attack. And in 2017, RTC helped pass more than $103 million in recurring funding and more than $238 million in one-time funds for trails, walking and biking in states around the country.

Dark Island Trail | Photo courtesy TrailLink/kathleenmamakat

Nebraska Trail Visionaries Named 2017 Doppelt Family Rail-Trail Champions

Posted 12/05/17 by Amy Kapp in Success Stories, Taking Action, Building Trails, America's Trails | Tagged with Champions, Demand for Trails, Heritage and Restoration, History Happened Here, Local Organizing, Nebraska, Rail-Trail Champion

Friends. Teammates. Energizer bunnies. And don’t forget tenacious describe RTC’s 2017 Doppelt Family Rail-Trail Champions, Ross Greathouse, 79, and Lynn Lightner, 83, who have spent nearly four decades developing some of Nebraska’s most treasured pathways.

Brent Hugh, executive director of the Missouri Bicycle and Pedestrian Federation, speaks at the rally. | Photo by Brandi Horton

Six Ways RTC Made a Difference for Trails This Year

Posted 11/30/17 by Brandi Horton in America's Trails, Building Trails, Policy, Taking Action | Tagged with Baltimore Greenway Trails Coalition, BATC, Best Of, California, Circuit Trails, Encouraging Trail Use, Equity, Facts and FIgures, Florida, Funding, Local Organizing, Mapping and Technology, Maryland, Miami LOOP, Missouri, Route of the Badger, RTC in Action, State and Federal Programs, Tourism and Economic Development, Tourism and Economic Stimulus, Trail Communities, Walkability and Bikeability

As 2017 draws to a close, here’s a look back at six ways RTC made a difference for trails. Through our work, we witness trails strengthening economies, putting people first when it comes to mobility, promoting health and protecting our environment.

Photo by Amy Kapp, courtesy RTC

Ohio Legislative Trails Caucus Helps Kick Off Ohio’s “Year of the Trails”

Posted 11/06/17 by Brian K. Housh in America's Trails, Building Trails, Policy | Tagged with Community Events, Demand for Trails, Funding, IHTC, Local Organizing, Ohio, State and Federal Programs, Tourism and Economic Stimulus, TrailNation, TrailsTransform, Why Use Trails?

This fall 2017 kicks off Ohio’s Year of the Trails, so named by the state legislature, and with multiple trail networks under development—at the local, cross-state and even interstate levels—there is definite cause for celebration.

Blue Springs trailhead, Chief Standing Bear Trail, Nebraska | Photo by Don Rice

Landmark and Legacy: Nebraska’s Chief Standing Bear Trail

Posted 11/01/17 by Cory Matteson in America's Trails, Building Trails | Tagged with Demand for Trails, Ecology and Environment, Featured Magazine Articles, Heritage and Restoration, History Happened Here, Local Organizing, Maintenance and Volunteers, Nebraska, Rock Island

The 22.9-mile Chief Standing Bear Trail helps memorialize the 1877 walk of the Ponca Tribe back to their homeland, led by Chief Standing Bear and known as the Ponca Trail of Tears.

View of Simon Kenton Trail bridge from Buck Creek Trail | Photo by Louis Agresta

Ohio’s Simon Kenton Trail

Posted 10/13/17 by Laura Stark in America's Trails, Trail Use | Tagged with Best Of, Connected Systems, Design Strategies, IHTC, Local Organizing, Ohio, Rail-with-Trail, Tourism , Tourism and Economic Stimulus, Trail Businesses, Trail Destinations, Trail of the Month, Trail Use Tips

Western Ohio’s Simon Kenton Trail, named for a 17th-century frontiersman (and friend of Daniel Boone), offers the perfect opportunity for today’s travelers to do their own exploring of the state’s scenic woodlands and rural landscapes on a 35-mile adventure stretching from Springfield to Bellefontaine. For an even more epic experience, the trail is seamlessly integrated into the expansive Miami Valley trails network, which offers 340 miles of paved trails coalescing in and around the Dayton metro area.

The Cowboy Trail's spectacular crossing of the Niobrara River near Valentine | Photo by Eric Foster

Nebraska's Cowboy Recreation and Nature Trail

Posted 09/12/17 by Laura Stark in America's Trails, Trail Use, Building Trails | Tagged with Demand for Trails, Funding, Local Organizing, Maintenance and Volunteers, Nebraska, Trail Destinations, Trail of the Month

Adventurers, take out your bucket lists and write this one down. Nebraska’s Cowboy Recreation and Nature Trail offers an authentic Old West experience, small towns with genuine, friendly people and picturesque landscapes of the High Plains and pristine prairie. At a whopping 219 miles, it’s already the third longest rail-trail in the country and yet has 100 more miles awaiting future development.

Bay Area Air Quality Management District joins RTC for the ride

Bikes, Buses, BART and Breathing: California’s Richmond Rides

Posted 09/01/17 by Rails-to-Trails Conservancy in America's Trails, Trail Use, Health and Wellness | Tagged with BATC, Bike Commuting, Biking, California, Connected Systems, Encouraging Trail Use, Equity, Health and Active Living, Local Organizing, Safety and Law Enforcement, Urban Pathways, Walkability and Bikeability, Why Use Trails?

Starting in 2016, RTC teamed up with Rich City Rides to lead a program called, “Richmond Rides! Bikes, Buses, BART and Breathing!” Supported by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, our goals were to foster more biking, walking and transit use to help reduce air pollution and improve personal and community health.

Supporters of the Rock Island Trail rallied at the state Capitol in Jefferson, Missouri. | Photo by Brandi Horton

Rallying for Missouri’s Rock Island Trail

Posted 08/15/17 by Brandi Horton in America's Trails, Building Trails, Taking Action | Tagged with Community Events, Demand for Trails, Local Organizing, Missouri, Rock Island, RTC in Action, Rural Communities, Tourism , Tourism and Economic Development, Tourism and Economic Stimulus, Trail Businesses, Trail Communities

I’m just coming off of a trip to Jefferson City, Missouri, where I met dozens of people who live along the Rock Island rail corridor. Hearing their stories about what this future trail means to their lives affirmed the importance of the work that we are doing. Beyond that, though, it affirmed how critical this trail is to the well-being of the small towns it will pass through.

The trail offers unbeatable views of the Pittsburgh skyline | Photo by Kelly Carter, courtesy Friends of the Riverfront

Pennsylvania’s Three Rivers Heritage Trail

Posted 04/07/17 by Laura Stark in Trail Use, America's Trails | Tagged with Connected Systems, Local Organizing, Pennsylvania, Tourism and Economic Stimulus, Trail Destinations, Trail of the Month

Spiraling outward from downtown Pittsburgh, the 24-mile Three Rivers Heritage Trail traces the banks of three waterways—the Allegheny, Monongahela and Ohio—that lifted the city to prominence as America’s industrial powerhouse. The development of this paved pathway, which began more than 25 years ago, sparked a biking revolution that is continuing to turn the famed “Steel City” into “Wheel City.”

View of John Seigenthaler Pedestrian Bridge and Nashville, Tennessee, skyline | Photo courtesy C.T. Thongklin | CC by 2.0

Trail Users Help Kill Anti-Bike/Ped Bill in Tennessee

Posted 04/21/16 by Andrew Dupuy in Policy, Success Stories | Tagged with Funding, Local Organizing, RTC in Action, State and Federal Programs, Tennessee, Walkability and Bikeability

Thanks to the grassroots mobilization of thousands of cyclists and trail users this spring, legislation that could have had negative repercussions for active transportation around the country officially died this week with the close of the Tennessee General Assembly’s annual session.