The next National Trails Symposium will be held November 13-17, 1998 at the Doubletree Hotel, Tucson, Arizona. The conference is sponsored every two years by American Trails. The local host for 1998 will be the Arizona State Committee on Trails of Arizona State Parks.
Tucson is an outstanding "Trails Town," and has something to offer every variety of trails enthusiast. The city is surrounded by 700,000 acres of local, state, and federal public lands-- including a national park and a large national forest-- with many miles of world-class hiking, mountain biking, equestrian, motorized, and accessible trails.
A cutting-edge program for the Symposium with a wide range of activities is under development. Many of America's important trails issues are being tackled in the Tucson area, such as public land access, growth and development, urban greenways, shared use of trails, mountain bike trails in national parks, volunteer development, and travel management on federal lands.
The 1998 Symposium will be chaired by Steve Anderson, Trails and Open Space Coordinator for Pima County, and Jim Coffman, Trails Planner for the City of Scottsdale and winner of the 1996 American Trails award for Trails Advocacy.
The 1998 National Trails Symposium theme is "Trails and the American Spirit." The Symposium Program Committee requests your input on Symposium sessions. There will be five session tracks and a series of facilitated roundtable workshops that result in an updated National Trails Agenda action plan that will lead trail advocacy organizations and trail-managing agencies into the 21st Century:
To submit a session concept, please request a Session Proposal packet from Symposium Program Co-Chairs, Eric Smith (Arizona State Parks) (602) 542-7116, E-mail esmith@pr.state.az.us or Joe Winfield (NPS, Rivers, Trails, and Conservation Assistance program), (520) 670-6501 Ext. 265; E-mail: joe_winfield@nps.gov
Open Invitation to Come Early or Stay Late...
Your Organization is invited to hold a conference or allied meeting before or after the 1998 National Trails Symposium in Tucson, Arizona. Tucson is a wonderful city and region of urban and backcountry trails! American Trails invites you to plan your session to enjoy more of the trail opportunities in the Tucson area by holding your group's meeting/conference before the Symposium start time of Friday, November 13 at 6pm. or on Tuesday, September 17.
American Trails and the Arizona State Committee on Trails will work with you to find convient meeting space for your meeting or conference and will provide information and suggestions on trails to explore while you are in the State! See you in Arizona!
If you are interested in holding an allied meeting or conference, please call Deb Rawhouser (Bureau of Land Management), Allied Conferences/Meetings Chair at (602) 417-9205; E-mail: drawhous@az.blm.gov