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National Trails Day is just around the corner...

John,

At Trust for Public Land, we have a whole team dedicated to planning,
building, and protecting trails-from community trails to
congressionally designated trails and everything in between. Cool,
right?  

See, trails have a unique power to connect, perhaps more than other
green spaces. Trust for Public Land partners with communities to help
install mountain biking trails, convert defunct railways to multiuse
paths, buy and create town-owned community forests, and reclaim old
industrial sites for new green space.

As we approach National Trails Day on Saturday, I wanted to share some
of my favorite trails and green spaces and what they mean for our work
to connect everyone to the benefits and joys of the outdoors. So I
hope you'll humor me, keep reading, and then double your impact to
help create more trails and protect public lands across the country.

Take the 366-mile Florida Gulf Coast Trail as an example. This trail
passes through eight counties and, when completed, will stretch
roughly from Tampa to Naples. Decades ago, the entire region was
dominated by agriculture, but farms have given way to suburbs. While
sections of the trail already exist, many gaps remain. With your
support, we're overseeing a regional effort with public and
private partners to complete the trail and connect communities at
every point along the corridor. 

Klamath Falls, a city of 22,000, was once a thriving timber town until
changing forest policies and a severe earthquake took a toll on the
town's economic and built environments. Trust for Public Land
has since helped Klamath Falls divine a new future. Just 10 miles
outside of town rises Spence Mountain, where a private landowner
allowed the community to create 50 miles of trails on 7,500 acres.

Protecting the Spence Mountain property breathed new life into Klamath
Falls' economy while ensuring that local residents and far-flung
visitors retained a healthy outlet.

Back in 2020, New York State opened the Empire State Trail, a
continuous 750-mile multi-use trail that spans the state from
Plattsburgh in the north and Buffalo in the west all the way south to
the Battery at the tip of Manhattan. But it ends there, leaving out
more than 8 million New Yorkers who live east of Manhattan on the arm
of Long Island. 

Now, a plan is in motion to change that by creating the Long Island
Greenway, a new trail that will stretch east from Manhattan all the
way to Montauk and link residents of Long Island (including Brooklyn
and Queens) to the Empire State Trail. And with ongoing community
outreach and support, construction of the trail's first 25 miles
will begin in 2025.

All of these spaces-and many more-are being protected
because of our dedicated supporters across the country. Thanks for
reading through-and for being a dedicated part of this team.

Josh VanDavier
Trust for Public Land

P.S. Feeling inspired? Check out this video about why trails are so critical for connecting everyone to the
outdoors and to one another.

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Connecting everyone to the outdoors. We create parks and protect
public land where they're needed most so that everyone will have
access to the benefits and joys of the outdoors for generations to
come.

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