SOUTHERN INDIANA — A local group is working to develop a regional vision for trails and parks across five counties in Southern Indiana.
Align Southern Indiana Trails, an initiative of Align Southern Indiana, put together a virtual meeting to discuss its goal of an integrated trail and park system in Clark, Floyd, Washington, Scott and Harrison counties. The team is working with the National Park Service and the Indiana Department of Natural Resources to look into regional opportunities.
The Zoom workshop was led by Andrea Irland, an outdoor recreation planner with the National Park Service who has been working with the team for more than a year. Irland works with communities on the development of trail and conservation efforts.
“I’ve been asked to assist the Southern Indiana group to develop a trails network or to bring together all of the pieces of trails into one uniform but combined effort that will collectively impact all of the trails in Southern Indiana,” Irland said.
Align Southern Indiana is a collaboration between nonprofits, businesses, elected officials and others in the five counties, according to Rita Shourds, president and CEO of Align Southern Indiana. The trails initiative started in March 2019.
The group isn’t just looking at physical connections between parks and trails. Mapping and promoting trails across the region are among the organization’s plans, including existing and proposed trails.
During the workshop, Lisa Huber with Duke Energy announced a $10,000 donation to Align Southern Indiana for the development of a trail mapping system for the five counties.
Align Southern Indiana hopes to bring more awareness of 65-plus trails in the five-county region, Shourds said. Irland will coordinate efforts to develop the mapping.
“We know [the trails] are out there, but our own citizenship doesn’t always know about the trails, as well as people outside the community,” she said. “What we’re hoping to do is map them, categorize them in terms of biking, walking, cycling…and then be able to market that so people know — both inside the five-county area and outside the five counties.”
Irland discussed her involvement with the development of other trail systems, including several in Ohio, as examples of ways to proceed with the vision of a unified trail system.
“We help you to plan and help to organize development,” Irland explained at the workshop. “We don’t bring money to the table, but we do make the project more fundable and help identify sources of funding. We bring the credibility of the National Park Service to the project.”
Trails and parks are seeing a major surge amid the pandemic, Irland said.
“Every webinar I’m on, every jurisdiction and park district [reports] seeing 100, 200 times the amount of people they’ve seen before,” she said. “People need the outdoors for all the benefits it can provide.”
The workshop featured discussion of trail and park projects that would increase connections between communities. Shourds said the Align initiative will work in conjunction with ongoing or future projects occurring in the area.
One such project is an abandoned CSX rail line that would bring an extensive trail system to Southern Indiana. The rails-to-trails project would tie in with the Ohio River Greenway, and if completed, it would connect New Albany’s shoreline with Bedford through a 63-mile path following CSX railways.
Participants also mentioned the opportunities associated with River Heritage Conservancy’s long-term project to create Origin Park, a large public park along the Ohio River.
Trails are ways to increase tourism, spur economic development and encourage healthy activities in the five-county area, Shourds said.
Chad Reischl, director of planning and zoning for the City of Jeffersonville, is among the team members with the trail initiative. The area’s natural resources and outdoor recreation options were among the factors he considered when moving here from Denver, he said.
“If a community is looking to attract a diverse, young workforce, building communities around parks and recreation is really important,” he said. “There are amazing opportunities in Southern Indiana, and there are untapped resources. I’ll go hiking and people ask after I post pictures, “where is that — Red River Gorge,’ but no, it’s here in Southern Indiana.”