Advocacy Needed for All Trails

By Dianne Koch

        Hiking and biking trails are important assets in our communities. Trails provide time to connect with the natural world around us while we set aside the screens that saturate our lives. Trails provide quiet in a noisy world, essential exercise at the end of a day, the chance for safe walking and biking, encourage new businesses along routes, and enhance the community’s quality of life, which draws families. Trails truly make a difference in every community.

         Here in the Dubuque area, we have enjoyed the benefits of supporting one of the earliest rail trails in the country, the Heritage Trail. Thanks to the volunteers who fought for a new concept of converting the unused railbeds that traversed the countryside into bicycle and walking trails. Heavily used, our beloved Heritage Trail pulls in visitors from afar and provides residents with daily opportunities for trail adventures. Runners, bikers, through-hikers, bird watchers, animal lovers, photographers, and outdoor enthusiasts all use the trail for various reasons. We especially enjoy the trailside views of the Little Maquoketa River and the scenic bluffs. My family and I recently spent a week at the Lake of the Ozarks. While the scenic, hilly terrain is pleasant, few public parks and trails exist for hiking and traditional biking. The Heritage Trail has been such a blessing to the Dubuque area for over forty years.

Yet, despite the multitude of benefits, critical federal funding is threatened with the recent federal and state government efficiency committees suggesting cutbacks. These “suggestions” must not be allowed to occur.  Without maintenance grant support, existing trails will fall into disrepair. Without new trail development grant support, future trails will not be built. Without completing trail projects that were Congressionally approved and funded under the Biden administration, projects will stall and fail to be completed. Without understanding the economic impact trails create in a community, local economies will falter.

            Trails bring a unique vibrancy to every community. Nationally, trails generate $34 billion of economic prosperity annually, according to the Rails to Trails Conservancy. Trails draw new businesses along trail corridors, spur hotel and restaurant revenue, and lure tourists to visit other local destinations beyond the trails. No two towns and their trails are ever the same. Local geography, history, creativity, and enthusiasm create a unique palette for each town. We need trail development to continue, and providing federal funds will boost healthier, vibrant communities that enjoy traveling by foot or bike.

           Please contact your representatives and senators to advocate for trails. They need to hear the call of the outdoors with trail access available to all citizens. More information can be found at Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, the Iowa Bicycle Coalition, and the League of American Bicyclists.