Seven Southeastern Communities Chosen for National Park Service Planning Help, 2023

The playground at Enchanted Forest Elaine Gordon Park in North Miami, where the city plans an adventure trail. National Park Service photo.

On November 14, 2023, the National Park Service announced seven new communities and partners in Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, South Carolina and Tennessee selected, through a competitive process, for expert help from its Rivers, Trails and Conservation Assistance Program (RTCA). The program helps communities make rivers, trails, greenways and open spaces vital parts of local life, supporting recreation, conservation and economic development. "The Rivers, Trails and Conservation Assistance Program supports communities by facilitating new opportunities for close to home outdoor recreation for all," said Deirdre Hewitt, the program's regional manager.

The projects

North Miami Adventure Trails. The 22-acre Enchanted Forest Elaine Gordon Park, between Miami and Fort Lauderdale, has paved trails, a playground and picnic areas. With ideas from local young people, the city plans an adventure trail where children can create their own imaginative adventures. The Park Service will help generate ideas, suggest trail design and routing, and find lasting funding for materials and upkeep.

Lucky Shoals Greenspace Design. The Lucky Shoals Community Association, representing more than 15 neighborhoods in Norcross, has identified a need for more park space and has already canvassed residents about possible sites. The Park Service will continue public engagement, identify funding and help draw up conceptual plans for parks, green spaces and neighborhood connections.

Paducah Greenway Trail. Paducah's greenway already links downtown, the riverfront and four parks. The city will extend it into parts of town with few recreation options, giving more residents safe routes for biking, running and walking. The Park Service will help set goals, shape the conceptual plan and design, and run public outreach for an updated greenway master plan.

Bayou Bienvenue Wetland Triangle Restoration. Sankofa Wetland Park in New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward aims to strengthen protection from hurricanes and flooding; with Park Service help in 2019–2021, residents took part in its design and still help care for it. The nonprofit Sankofa Community Development Corporation now wants to restore a nearby 435-acre site as a forested wetland with trails, adding recreation and resilience against storm surge. The Park Service will support community engagement while engineers and wetland ecologists work out the technical and ecological needs.

Lake City Water Trail. The South Carolina Revolutionary Rivers National Water Trail, designated in 2022, runs 60 miles through cypress and tupelo swamp that provides floodplain habitat for many endangered plants and animals. The Florence Convention and Visitors Bureau plans to extend it 30 miles into part of Florence County with few paddling options, adding overnight camping and access sites. The Park Service will lead public meetings, study new access points and shape a plan for building and sustaining the extension.

Lincolnville Recreational Historic Park. Lincolnville, founded in 1867 by the Rev. Richard H. Cain and six other men resisting racial discrimination in Charleston, belongs to the Reconstruction Era National Historic Network as a historically African American town. Its Preservation and Historical Society wants a new park and trails to showcase the town's history. The Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor will help preserve and document the early settlers' traditions, and the Park Service will help plan the park and a network of trails highlighting the town's past.

Cumberland Gap Trails Alliance. Where Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia meet, the Cumberland Gap is one of three natural breaks in the Appalachians, traveled for thousands of years; historic and modern trails cross there, including the Warrior's Path, Boone Trace, the Cumberland Trail and the Great Eastern Trail. The town of Cumberland Gap wants to form an alliance to coordinate trail users, education, advocacy, maintenance and master planning, and to become an official Tennessee Trail Town. The Park Service will help with organizational development and strategic planning.

Other assistance

RTCA also planned consulting for communities in Kentucky and Louisiana, and continued its work with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, giving technical help to devastated communities rebuilding in Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana and Puerto Rico.

Sources

• National Park Service, South Atlantic-Gulf Region: "National Park Service provides recreation, conservation and economic development assistance to seven communities across the Southeast," news release, November 14, 2023.