Empathy, Stories are Better than Numbers, and other Ideas from ITS

Including a call to action to pursue "peak moments" within the trail community

Dia + Log = Dialogue

I’d like to welcome all of my new subscribers, many of whom I met at the International Trails Summit (ITS) last week. I’m happy to have you as part of the Cycle Forward community. I use this space to write about trails, placemaking, and the wonder of nature. It’s a newsletter that reads more like a blog. More importantly, it’s a place for trail advocates and community champions to come together and imagine a better collective future.

I’m focusing today’s longer than usual post on some ideas and statements that left the greatest impression on me during ITS. Here goes:

• Herman Fillmore of the Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California gave a moving and informative welcome during the opening plenary. After sharing some local context and history, he gave the best land acknowledgement I’ve ever heard, if a bit uncomfortable in its truth. As a friend later said, “We should feel uncomfortable in hearing a land acknowledgment.” Fillmore reminded us that we are “of place” and, importantly, trails and outdoor recreation don’t belong in all places. When a place is considered sacred, the trails community doesn’t need to know the detailed reason why, the exact locations, or what cultural traditions occur on such sites. Acceptance is our role in these situations. Similarly, keynote speaker Luther Propst said, “We don’t have to have trails everywhere, and we’re stronger as a movement when we recognize that.”

• Propst, who co-authored Balancing Nature and Commerce, spoke about trails as rural economic drivers. He shared that visitor spending is probably our weakest argument regarding the economic benefits of trails…that it’s not the point that brings new allies to our cause. As significant as tourism is, I saw a lot of heads nodding when he said that. He also talked about the importance of trail advocates conveying empathy rather than expertise. Our ability to empathize will go a lot further than touting our trail experience. In a separate session, Ron Bentch with Missouri State Parks shared the same sentiment. Showing empathy to rural landowners was one of his primary messages. He used farmers’ concerns about biocontamination as an example, saying, “There’s a low probability (of it occurring), but the risk to the farmer is catastrophic.” It’s easy to see where empathy comes into play in building trusting relationships with landowners.

• Elizabeth Burger of the Sunflower Foundation in Kansas emphasized the importance of “hyper-local” trails, saying that local residents “use and become part of the movement without even knowing.” It’s this local trail use that changes hearts and minds.

• Pedro Cunha E Menezes of the Brazilian Trails Network shared a vision for the aspirational Pan American Trail network, which upon completion would stretch from Alaska to Patagonia. Quite the opposite of a hyper-local trail, the Pan American would cover more than 18,000 miles. What stood out to me most (besides someone saying that Menezes is the “Benton MacKaye of the Pan American Trail” - the highest of compliments) was Menezes’s conservation message. As he mentioned, without connected natural areas we’re going to have forests without animals (or, at very least, animals at greater risk). Long-distance trails can connect natural areas and contribute to wildlife protection.

• Amy Kapp of Rails-to-Trails Conservancy and I hosted a session on creating impact with creative and authentic storytelling. We focused on highlighting the human element of trails through storytelling. I was delighted to hear it’s not just us who uphold storytelling as being critical to successful trail advocacy. Propst in his talk shared to a crowd of 800+ people that “numbers don’t win over people - it’s the stories.” (Although, we need both stories and data.)

• Shari Schaftlein with the Federal Highway Administration encouraged everyone to take advantage of the unprecedented funding opportunities in the U.S. right now. She suggested we are approaching a peak moment within the trails community and urged us to seek and create “peak moments.” Essentially, go for those federal grants. Here’s to many successful grant requests within the trails community and the peak moments that follow!

• Finally, I fielded a lot of questions in the two sessions I led on the topic of trail towns. It occurred to me that I’ve been presenting about trail towns for 16 years and yet some people were hearing about the approach for the very first time. One of the main concerns I heard was whether a community is “the right size” for the trail town approach. Whether your community has 300 people or 30,000, the answer is probably “yes.” It’s a model that works well in smaller communities (and can be applied to larger communities as well). There were lots of other questions people asked, too, which is why I’m now writing a post called, “7 Questions People ask me about Trail Towns.” If YOU have a question about trail towns, let me know. I’ll do my best to work it into the post!

Tying this all together, my big takeaway is that it’s time that the trails community takes a close look in the mirror to consider where trails belong, how we’re inviting people to the conversation, and how well we’re supporting our neighbors who may be impacted by trails and recreation. There’s also room for improvement as we work to change peoples’ hearts and minds about trails. What’s the message? Who’s the best messenger (it may not be us)? Are we sharing the stories or just spewing data? And are we being sincere in the way that we’re advocating for trails? These are all good questions to sit with as we strive to do this good work with even greater impact. I got a lot out of this year’s ITS. I hope you did, too!

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Trail Town Resources

This is my desk covered by a stack of books.

Thanks again to those who joined me for the trail town sessions! I want to share two resources:

1. The All About Trail Towns Facebook group (now 240 members strong!) is a great group for people who are interested in trail towns and want to strengthen connections between their community and their trails. Please join us in the group.

2. My book, Deciding on Trails: 7 Practices of Healthy Trail Towns, details the history of the trail town approach, how it’s been applied throughout the U.S. and Canada, and recommended best practices for trail communities. It was exciting last week to sell copies to ITS attendees from Armenia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Jamaica, and Malaysia (as well as throughout the U.S. and Canada). If you missed your chance to pick up a copy, use the discount code “ITS” to save 20% through May 31, 2023. Feel free to use this code whether you attended or not.

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In Gratitude

For those who are new here, I like to end each post with a gratitude statement. Today, I’m grateful to La Crivello from the Ala Kahakai Trail Association in Hawai'i. She kindly approached my co-presenter and me with an offer of help when we were experiencing a tech issue during our session. One person in a room of dozens came forward, and that kind act did not go unnoticed. We later went on to have a meaningful conversation about the importance of cultural traditions on trails, protecting those traditions and sacred locations, and sharing the stories of our people and places. Thank you, La, for that discussion (and for the sticker!).

Thanks also to my co-presenters: Amy Kapp of Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, Samantha Browne of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, and Tony Boone of Timberline TrailCraft, LLC and Tony Boone Trails, Inc. I enjoyed presenting with you all! And congrats, Tony, on your PTBA Lifetime Achievement Award!