June 2019 - Parks & Recreation - 71

cilities, bike racks and wayfinding
signage used to attract visitors, are
good for residents, too.
" The importance of our trails
is that they are causing people to
want to stay in our community for
much longer, " says Donna Gaukler, director of parks and recreation
for Missoula, Montana. " Equally important, though, is that we
know how important these are to
our local folks. Being part of the
Great American Rail-Trail helps
us all better understand the value of those linear greenways and
transportation corridors where you
move slowly and can really appreciate the people, the culture and the
environment all at once. "

Putting the (Bike)
Pedal to the Metal
So, when will the Great American
Rail-Trail be finished? Half the
route is already open, with many
long stretches able to be enjoyed by
the public now (find open trails at
traillink.com/great-american-railtrail). For the remainder - which
will likely take the next several decades to complete - RTC is working collaboratively with partners
to close gaps that are in alignment
with the trail priorities of the various localities along the route.
A first step in that process was
RTC's work in partnership with
states and trail groups to analyze
and develop the trail's preferred
routing. The subsequent report
(available at greatamericanrailtrail.
org) was published in May and will
serve as a guiding document for
completing the Great American
Rail-Trail. RTC will also continue
to focus on securing public funding

PHOTO BY TOM BILCZE

Ohio's The Great Miami River Trail is the
backbone of one of the nation's largest
paved trail networks.

for trails, which has been one of
the organization's priorities since
its founding in 1986.
" Public money is central to how
you get public amenities like trails
built, and there are federal, state
and local roles in that, " says Kevin
Mills, RTC's vice president of policy, who points to the Transportation Alternatives Program and the
Recreational Trails Program as important core trail-funding programs
for trails since the early 1990s.
In addition, RTC will directly support trail projects that can
catalyze the completion of the
Great American Rail-Trail. RTC
has identified a series of projects
that will most benefit from the
organization's resources and expertise and are critical to closing
gaps and securing trail funding
- with the potential to hasten
the timeline for completing the
cross-country route.

The Great American Rail-Trail
has been a dream of RTC for a
long time, particularly for its late
cofounder David Burwell, who envisioned this cross-country trail as
a gift to the nation.
" This has been an internal drumbeat for the organization for all
these years, and our eye was always
on it, " says Fowler. " We knew that
it was almost inevitable this trail
would happen, but it was going to
take time before we were ready for
it and it was ready for us. Now that
time has come! "
Special acknowledgements to Liz Thorstensen, Kevin Belanger, Amy Kapp and
the Great American Rail-Trail Working
Group.
Laura Stark is a Lead Writer and Editor for Rails to Trails
magazine at Rails-to-Trails Conservancy. (lauras@railstotrails.
org). Brandi Horton is the Vice President of Communications for
Rails-to-Trails Conservancy (brandi@railstotrails.org).
@railstotrails

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Parks & Recreation

June 2019 - Parks & Recreation

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