American Heritage: A Celebration of Trails
This campaign emphasizes the importance of trails in American heritage.
July/August 1999
By Natural Home Staff
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Courtesy of Rails to Trails Conservency
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Among the many millennium celebrations striving toward a vision for the future, one of the more ecological is the Millennium Celebration of Trails, a government-sponsored campaign whose many cultural events will emphasize the importance of trails in American heritage and initiate 2,000 local trail projects across the country.
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Particularly pleased about the celebration are members of the Rails to Trails Conservancy, an umbrella organization founded in 1985 with around 80,000 members and five field offices. The conservancy’s purpose is to preserve railroad paths’ rights of way. America’s 1,000th railroad trail opened last fall, and there are now more than 10,000 miles of rail trails in the country. The Conservancy says the national network of rail trails is roughly equivalent to a full quarter of the length of the U.S. Interstate system.
Karen Stewart, editor of the Conservancy’s Rails to Trails magazine, has found that trails may tend to enhance property values; trailside houses are often more expensive. Stewart argues that rail trails can bring many other economic benefits to their communities. “When the trains left, a lot of small towns dried up. When the trail came through, it really rejuvenated these places.” Bed and breakfasts, antique stores, and ice cream shops now thrive along frequently traveled trails.
“The beauty of rail trails is they still do what they were built to do—connect communities and circle communities. They also connect parks and neighborhoods to communities,” Stewart says. She believes the rail trails are successful and popular mainly because of their level grade. “Most don’t exceed 3–4 percent grade so everyone—whether in wheelchairs, baby strollers, or bicycles—can use them. The trails really are an alternative means of traveling and recreating because there is never any danger of encountering cars.”