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PADDLING & WATER TRAILS
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If you are interested in “attending” an archived version of the webinar, purchase the session via the American Trails Online Store
WEBINAR: Water Trail Accessibility -
Assessing and Creating More Accessible Facilities and Programs
American Trails is proud to present "Water Trail Accessibility" as a part of the American Trails "Advancing Trails Webinar Series."
Questions and answers from Webinar on Water Trail Accessibility
See more resources for water trails and accessibility
Getting people in the boat is the challenge for accessible water trails
Here are the Presenters (see their bios below):
- Mike Passo, Owner & Operator, Elakah Expeditions LLC and American Trails Board Member
- Doug Alderson, Paddling Trails Coordinator, Florida Office of Greenways & Trails
- Bob Searns, Principal, The Greenway Team and Chair of the Board of Directors, American Trails
This new course is designed to help water trail managers and outfitters improve opportunities for people of all backgrounds and abilities to enjoy water trails.
The webinar includes a 75 minute review of adaptive program principles, principles of assessing existing water trails to provide critical information to all users, how to create water trails out of urban streams, and real life examples and case studies of water trail challenges.
Join us for discussions and case studies, and take away valuable tips and techniques for creating new oppportunities for paddling and water trails for people of all abilities and skill levels.
Presenters for the Webinar: “Water Trail Accessibility - Assessing and Creating More Accessible Facilities and Programs”
Mike Passo is the owner and operator of Elakah Expeditions LLC. Since 1991, Mike has led groups of all backgrounds on sea kayak expeditions in the San Juan Islands of Washington, Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Lake Superior, and Glacier Bay Alaska. Mike has been the project director for all of Wilderness Inquiry’s trails and facilities assessment and Universal Design training projects— a program known as Access Outdoors.
Roller launch for kayaks and canoes
He has conducted an extensive study of outdoor developed areas nationwide to determine the cost implications of construction according to proposed American's with Disabilities Act standards, and a Congressional study on improving access to outdoor recreational activities on federal land.
Mike has a B.S. in Recreation Resource Management from the University of Wisconsin - Madison, including three years coursework in Landscape Architecture and Civil Engineering. He has presented on Universal Design and Programming at several national conferences and serves on the Board of Directors of American Trails. His love of the outdoors and his own paraplegia has given him a great interest in the creation of an accessible outdoor environment that does not ruin the characteristics and value of that environment.
Doug Alderson works as the paddling trails coordinator for the Florida Office of Greenways and Trails, part of the Division of Recreation and Parks, Florida Department of Environmental Protection. He coordinates most of Florida’s 45 state designated paddling trails, including the 1,515-mile Florida Circumnavigational Saltwater Paddling Trail, as well as the Visit Florida Greenways and Trails website. An avid paddler during his free time, he also writes an outdoor and nature blog for Visit Tallahassee and is the author of several natural history and outdoor adventure books and magazine articles (not to be confused with the Canadian author by the same name).
Bob Searns is a greenways and trails planner/developer. Over a four decade career, he has helped plan and develop a number of paddleways and urban white water boating solutions including: the city-limit-to-city limit Denver Platte River paddleway, the Fox River Paddleway in Kane County, Il; the Salt Creek corridor near Chicago, Il, the Arkansas Headwaters Recreation Area, near Salida, CO; the Colorado River corridor from Glenwood Springs to Rifle, CO; and a vision for the Wolf River Greenway in Memphis, TN and other cities. Bob also championed a concept for "stairstepping" weir dams adapting the designs to create a series of boatable pools instead of a single dangerous drop. This adaptation was embraced and built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at a number of locations.
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