ForeverGreen Trails is spear-heading two new trail program initiatives this year aimed at increasing the recognition, use and stewardship of trails county wide. First, ForeverGreen is promoting the establishment of ‘Pierce County Trails Day’ with local park agencies and other non-profit advocates. Sandwiched between National Trails Day – the first Saturday of June annually, promoted by the non-profit American Hiking Society – and Washington State Trails Day – the first Saturday in August annually, promoted by Washington Trails Association – Pierce County Trails Day (PCTD) will be held on the 4th Saturday of each year. PCTD a day to celebrate trails and get residents of the communities across the county involved in trail use, maintenance and stewardship. ForeverGreen is compiling a list of host agencies and organization events to be published in a comprehensive event calendar; ForeverGreen hopes to compile a dozen trail events to be held on PCTD.
ForeverGreen is also establishing a new community recognition program known as the ‘Certified Trails Community’ initiative. Under the program, ForeverGreen is looking to designate three (3) communities as ‘Certified Trails Communities’. Under the program, a local agency would need to: 1) Celebrate and officially proclaim “Pierce County Trails Day”; 2) Hold a local “Trails Day” event; 3) Establish and implement an ‘Adopt a Trail’ program; 4) Adopt and maintain a local trails master plan; and, 5) Allocate funding and resources annually to the local trails. The idea behind this program is to promote awareness and celebrate the benefits of community and regional trails, engage and educate elected officials, establish an ethic of and robust participation in public trail stewardship across the county, increase trail maintenance activities and local spending on trails and ensure that local planning documents are aligned with the region’s trail priorities.
Both of these projects are grant funded – ForeverGreen received funding from the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department and the Active Transportation Community of Interest program. Do you have an idea for an event you’d like to host on PCTD? Any project that is trail related is eligible – a trail walk, a 5K event, trail maintenance project, etc. are acceptable projects. Contact ForeverGreen Program Coordinator Heather Rawley to register your event now: Rawley.forevergreentrails@gmail.com