This webinar on “Making the Case for Trails in Tight Economic Times” puts sound ideas and hard numbers together to illustrate the contribution of trails to the prosperity of communities.
Presented by:
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September 22, 2011
10:30 AM to 11:30 AM (Pacific Time) {more time zones}
Cost (RECORDING):
FREE for membersNote:
Closed Captioning is NOT available for this webinar.
Learning Credits are NOT available for this webinar.
This webinar is free. Would you consider a donation to support this webinar?
The Great Allegheny Passage Trail Town Program is on the cutting-edge when it comes to “Making the Case for Trails in Tight Economic Times.” The Trail Town Program is an economic development initiative along the Great Allegheny Passage in Pennsylvania and Maryland. The program envisions a corridor of revitalized trail communities that reap the economic benefits of trail-based tourism and recreation. The program conducts economic research to measure the trail’s impact on local economies, provides lending and technical assistance to small businesses, and addresses trail-wide issues and opportunities. The long-term economic viability of participating communities is to be achieved through concentrated business development efforts that capitalize on the trail user market.
Robert (Bob) Searns, Owner, Robert Searns and Associates, Inc.
Denver, Colorado
Robert Searns has a four-decade history of visualizing, planning, and getting trails and greenway projects built. He was Project Director of Denver’s Platte River and Mary Carter Greenways—both national-award-wining projects. He helped plan the Grand Canyon National Park Greenway, played a key role on the Memphis Wolf River Greenway, and authored the Commerce City, CO Walk, Bike, Fit plan. He has written for Planning, Landscape Architecture, LA China, and American Trails Magazines and has served as Editor-in-Chief of Trails and Beyond Magazine. He chaired American Trails and was a founder of The World Trails Network as well as being a delegate to the America’s Great Outdoors White House conclave. His current book is Beyond Greenways: The Next Step For City Trails and Walking Routes, published in 2023 by Island Press. He resides, writes, hikes, and bikes near Denver, Colorado.
Jim Wood, Chief, Kimley-Horn Planning and Design Engineering Consultants
Orlando, FL
Jim Wood is a Transportation Planning Lead with Kimley-Horn and Associates, Inc in Orlando, FL. Jim leads trail and multimodal transportation programs drawing on nearly 23 years with the State of Florida including as FDEP’s Chief of the Office of Greenways & Trails and FDOT’s Chief Planner. Following legislative creation of Florida’s Shared Use Nonmotorized (SUN) Trail Program, Jim directed program establishment including the framework for annually programming $25 million of recurring trail funding. Planning efforts he has overseen include the 2013-2017 Florida Greenways and Trails System Plan and Paradise Coast Trail Feasibility Study, a collaborative multi-agency partnership. Jim has “made the case for trails” through many presentations and work on efforts such as an Economic Impact Analysis of Orange County, FL Trails and two Greenways and Trails Developer Forums in collaboration with Bob Searns (AT Chair Emeritus). He served on the American Trails Board of Directors Executive Committee from 2004 to 2012.
Amy Camp, Founder and Owner, Cycle Forward
Amy Camp founded Cycle Forward in 2013 with the plan to help communities better connect to and benefit from their trails. She is a trails and tourism consultant, a placemaker, and a certified coach. She helped to launch the nationally recognized Trail Town Program® in 2007. She has since offered her consulting services throughout Appalachia, the Rust Belt, and other locations in the U.S. and Canada. Her book, Deciding on Trails: 7 Practices of Healthy Trail Towns, was published in December 2020. Amy served on the Board of American Trails from 2012-17, acting as Board Secretary and Chair of the Hulet Hornbeck Emerging Leaders Scholarship Program. She is an Associate Certified Coach through the International Coach Federation and firmly believes that her coaching certification makes her a better consultant. Amy lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where she first grew to love communities and began her work to help improve them.
While we may individually agree (or disagree) in whole or in part with any or all of the participants, the views expressed in these webinars are not necessarily representative of the views of American Trails as an organization or its board and staff. Unless specific situations are noted by presenters, nothing in American Trails webinars should be considered to be interpreted as a standard.
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