Trails equal health for Illinois’ boomers and seniors: 55% trail users in Making Trails Count in Illinois were 46-65 yrs old, 16% older than 65 yrs, most of them cycling or walking for 1-2 hrs/visit.
They know where they’ll find a higher quality of life: out on Illinois trails.
Download the report here, or contact us for bound copies.
Photo by Thomas’ Photographic Services.
Two hundred thousand ice cream cones: Palos Heights, Illinois parks & recreation director Mike Leonard shares how Making Trails Count in Illinois will help him make the case for economic development along the Cal-Sag Trail.
Making Trails Count in Illinois, a set on Flickr.
I had a great walkabout Springfield with retired IDNR Trails & Greenways guy Dick Westfall, who is a brilliant trails thinker and takes a good photo to boot. Then lunch with Dick, IDNR landscape architect & trails planner George Bellovics, and Illinois Route 66’s Bill Kelly.
The public release of Making Trails Count in Illinois is tomorrow, March 30, when the download link goes live at http://trailsforillinois.org/maketrailscount. There’s a very limited number of print copies available; contact me if you’d like one.
Release day is also Opening Day for Trails for our partner Rails-to-Trails Conservancy. RTC staff will be attending special events on trails nationwide tomorrow; look for RTC’s Dan Persky on the Illinois Prairie Path.
Opening Day and Making Trails Count in Illinois both kick off a weeklong focus on trails, walking and biking’s health benefits by the Partnership for Active Transportation during National Public Health Week. We’re so proud of Making Trails Count’s contribution to that effort.
And over the next month, you’ll find Trails for Illinois presenting Making Trails Count at the International Trails Symposium, April 14-17 in Phoenix, AZ; for the keynote at Friends of the Pumpkinvine Trail’s annual luncheon on April 25 in Goshen, IN; at the Chicago Southland Economic Development Corporation in Homewood, IL on April 26; and—this just in—for the keynote at the Illinois Bike Summit in Normal, IL, May 15.
We set out to have a different conversation with Illinois about trails and their role in improving our communities and our lives and even the way we view our state. With Making Trails Count in Illinois, I feel like the conversation has begun.
Reader, I want you to think right now about joining us at Trails for Illinois. This organization has had a long, quiet history that closes today. As the profile of trails in Illinois rises, so our numbers must rise to turn the changing perspective on trails into action.
Will you please consider joining us, here at the beginning of a new trails movement in Illinois? You can click here; it’s simple and secure.
We are grateful for the weeks to come. May your home be your trailhead.
Steve Buchtel, Executive Director
708/365-9365
steve@trailsforillinois.org
Monday, April 1 is the last day your organization can join Trails for Illinois in signing on to the Partnership for Active Transportation’s letter to Governor Quinn. The letter asks the Governor to take advantage of the flexible funding options in the new federal transportation bill to prioritize trails, biking and walking facilities that provide safe, healthy, active options to get outside and move, under Illinoisans’ own power. Read the letter here.
Reviewing the printer’s proof for Making Trails Count in Illinois. Average spending $30+ per trail visit…. Did I just tumblr that out loud?
Making Trails Count volunteer coordinator Jon Voelz of Vienna had TWO—count ‘em, TWO—winning photos in American Trails’ 2012 Photo Contest. Thank you, Jon and congratulations! Illinois REPRESENTS.
Centennial Trail detour options, a set on Flickr.
Responses from the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago are saying that they’ll work on signing a detour soon for the closed Centennial Trail. But the detour options will take more than signs. We walked the detour routes on the east end to the I&M Canal Trail today and took pictures. Oy!
