Nine Southeast Communities Get Park Service Help With Parks, Trails and a River Corridor

On July 1, 2022, the National Park Service's Rivers, Trails and Conservation Assistance Program (RTCA) named nine communities and partners across its South Atlantic-Gulf Region to receive expert Park Service help with local recreation, conservation and economic development. Chosen in a competition, the recipients are in Alabama, Kentucky, Louisiana and North Carolina, and the help is meant to make their rivers, trails, greenways and open spaces vital parts of community life.

Deirdre Hewitt, the program's regional manager, said the assistance advances the Park Service's stewardship mission while giving communities more places to get outdoors, and opens the region to people of every background.

A greenway beside the Deep River in High Point, North Carolina. NPS photo.

The nine projects

Elba outdoor recreation plan

In historic Elba, properties near the Pea River flood again and again — land that could become parks for recreation and for holding back water in heavy rain. With the Park Service, the city wants a master plan with community support, including new river access, walking and biking trails and a pedestrian bridge, to draw residents and visitors downtown and into its parks.

Bourbon County recreational trails

Just outside Lexington, the city of Paris and Bourbon County want to build on a recently adopted bike and pedestrian master plan with a phased trail system. Several of the trails would follow the county's streams and link neighbourhoods to schools, city services and recreation without cars. After wide community engagement, the finished concept plan will set out goals, strategy and tactics for a network of walking and cycling trails close to home.

Liberty and Casey County trail town

Kentucky's Trail Towns Program lets towns showcase their trails, forests and waters to adventure travellers looking for hotels, restaurants and entertainment. The City of Liberty and the Casey County Trail Town Task Force hope to earn the designation by carrying out a recreation facilities master plan completed with the Park Service — new trail links, kayak access, hiking trails, signs and more outdoor marketing. Residents will now help set priorities, with the aim of joining 25 other official Kentucky Trail Towns.

Natchitoches and Cane River outdoor recreation plan

The Cane River National Heritage Area preserves the culture, history and landscape of the Cane River region, with boating, kayaking, fishing, hiking and camping along 35-mile Cane River Lake. The heritage area — a non-profit that works from the grassroots on heritage conservation and economic development — is working with RTCA, the Park Service's National Center for Preservation Technology and Training and local groups to identify and map recreation across its 116,000 acres. The goal is a recreation and conservation network open and connected to local communities and the city of Natchitoches. The center's deputy director, Andy Ferrell, welcomed the chance to take part in a community-led plan for better recreation and conservation across Natchitoches.

Black Mountain greenways and parks

Black Mountain, set against the Appalachians in western North Carolina, is near the Pisgah National Forest, Asheville and several state parks. Its Greenways and Trails Committee is seeking official trail town designation through a new master plan for a 25-acre park, a rethink of existing plans and a stronger organization. The Park Service will help with facilitation, concept planning and organizational development.

A blue economy corridor on the eastern Tar-Pamlico River

A "blue economy" rests on using oceans and watersheds sustainably while preserving them. Researchers at East Carolina University want to develop one along the eastern Tar-Pamlico River basin by building a digital map of the river's assets. They are holding community meetings across the four-county area to gather information on social, cultural, environmental and hospitality assets. The Park Service will help run the meetings and coordinate the data. The finished map will guide visitors to places along the river and show the university where assets are missing.

Cherokee cultural river trails

The Nikwasi Initiative, which links the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians with the communities of Franklin, wants the Little Tennessee and Oconaluftee rivers designated as official cultural river trails, to help the public understand what rivers mean to Cherokee culture, past and present. With the Eastern Band, the non-profit American Rivers, the North Carolina Smoky Mountain Blueways National Water Trail and the Park Service, the project will look for new river access and conservation areas and plan signs and interpretation about the bond between the Cherokee and the rivers. Through wide engagement of Cherokee people, paddlers and other residents, the partners hope to create the first cultural river trail in the region and in North Carolina. The Park Service will also help form a friends group to sustain it. The Cherokee Preservation Foundation is a sponsor.

Deep River Blueway

High Point, in the Piedmont Triad, calls itself "North Carolina's International City" for the tens of thousands who come to the High Point Furniture Market twice a year. The Deep River, averaging 3 feet deep, links two parks on two lakes and passes native plants and wildlife. The proposed 3.8-mile blueway would let beginners and experienced paddlers explore it in the heart of the Greensboro–Winston-Salem–High Point triangle. The city wants a master plan covering maintenance, access points, signs and links to its greenways; the Park Service will help develop it and run a maintenance and safety workshop for city staff.

Horizons Unlimited Nature Preserve

For over 50 years the Horizons Unlimited science education center has run programs for young people and adults in Salisbury and Rowan County. Next to it, a 34-acre nature preserve has trails and boardwalks through huge trees and swampy ground, with wildlife to watch. A new concept plan will show how public trails could link nearby neighbourhoods to an elementary school, a middle school, Catawba College and Salisbury's greenways — safe routes for young people on foot or bike — and will cover boardwalk upkeep, invasive species and funding.

And beyond the nine

RTCA will also consult for communities in Florida, Kentucky, Mississippi, Puerto Rico, South Carolina and Tennessee, and continues to work with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, giving technical help to devastated communities rebuilding in Louisiana and Puerto Rico.

Sources

• National Park Service, Southeast Region, "National Park Service to help nine Southeast communities create local parks, water corridor and trails," news release, July 1, 2022. https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/national-park-service-to-help-nine-southeast-communities-create-local-parks-water-corridor-and-trails.htm