HAPPY TRAILS TO YOU: RECIPES FOR REGIONAL SUCCESS.

Quality of life is a fairly subjective concept and, thus, one that may be interpreted in a number of ways. One element in particular is receiving a good amount of attention among many Americans. It is simple and practical, yet ranks high in our minds and hearts. According to recent reviews from real-estate professionals, one of the top considerations of many potential homeowners is availability of and proximity to trails and open spaces. Providing these trail and open-space resources and integrating them locally and regionally is a new challenge for many cities, counties, and states. How is this being accomplished? While there are a few core ingredients, recipes may be adjusted to "taste." Running with this analogy, the following recipe has worked well for the East Bay Regional Park District.

About the East Bay Regional Park District

The East Bay Regional Park District is a two-county special district located in the East Bay area of San Francisco. In 1934, in the midst of economic upheaval, a group of spirited citizens formed the district to preserve some of the region's unique natural resources for future generations to enjoy. Today, under the district's jurisdiction are 55 parks; 20 regional trails, which cover more than 88,000 acres: 1,000 miles of internal park trails; and 100 miles of regional trails.

The parklands help to ensure preservation of the natural beauty that has made the Bay Area such a desirable place to live, providing a habitat: for wildlife and protection for a variety of unique and endangered species. The regional trail system helps to link the 32 cities and two counties with the parks that serve them, while providing recreation and transportation benefits for its users. The trail system connects to residential and commercial areas, schools, job centers, and community facilities, and provides access to public-transit systems.

Why the District Entered the Trail Business

In the beginning, the focus of the park district was to acquire and protect open space along the ridgeline overlooking the San Francisco Bay. As additional parklands were acquired, a string of parks emerged, as did a desire for these parks to be linked to the communities that surround them. This impetus, shared by park officials and the public park users, led to the beginning of the regional trail concept. In addition to the desire for linking parklands, other opportunities for connecting communities along public rights of way led to the inclusion of a number of regional trails in the district's 1973 Master Plan. The district's first trails were developed along a flood-control channel, a water-district canal, and an abandoned rail line. These efforts launched the East Bay Regional Park District into the regional trail business and the development of a successful regional trail system that boasts some 100 miles of trails and serves more than 2.6 million residents. Many individual trails accommodate close to 500,000 user trips per year. System-wide, the number of user trips is calculated at a staggering 6 million.

What Lessons Have Been Learned?

With more than 25 years of experience in the planning, acquisition, development, and maintenance of regional trails, the East Bay Regional Park District has encountered and weathered many challenges. Although every community has its own local culture and identity, there are some common elements to developing a regional trail system. If properly planned, the trails will meet residents' expectations for recreation and transportation, mitigate concerns regarding privacy and liability, and be both achievable and manageable. Like a recipe (Figure 1 below), there are certain ingredients and steps in the process that, if followed, will render a masterpiece.

FIGURE 1.

Basic ingredients            Important seasonings

Planning                     Public involvement
Funding                      Joint agency cooperation
Acquisition                  Funding sources
Development                  Safety & aesthetics
Maintenance & operations     Volunteer support

Whether viewing your plan from a regional or local perspective, the identification of key players or stakeholders is vital to input on, consensus for, and adoption of a regional trail plan.

Regional and Local Planning

Regional planning may require involvement from federal, state, and county governments as well as various utility districts or other special districts that may have ownership of or jurisdiction over potential trail rights of way. A well-positioned regional trail plan should be included in federal trail plans (National Scenic, Historic, or Recreation trails); state trail plans; county general plans (recreation or transportation elements); and regional plans (water or utility district master plans). Local jurisdiction plans should also include regional trail plans in city general plans (recreation or transportation elements) and creek and trail plans. The regional plans should be integrated into these plans so that local and regional trails complement one another.

Public Participation

During every step of the planning process, there must be a public-participation component. The operating principle here is: "Hear it now or hear it later." We've learned that the credibility of any agency is based upon how well it keeps the public informed as well as how it does its job. Every East Bay Regional Park District trail project has involved a great deal of public input. From the development of a trails master plan to individual trail projects, the use of public workshops, task forces, technical advisory committees, field trips, and board of director meetings have provided insight into what features the trail plan should include. Early involvement and input produces a plan that people feel a part of, not something to which they feel they must react. Likewise, trail-user organizations and supporters can prove vital in gaining acceptance for a trail plan and countering negative positions. For example, an entire city council, concerned about the cost of a project, reversed its decision when an 8-year-old boy stepped up to the podium and emphatically announced, "This trail is very important to me and all my school friends to get safely to school. I've wanted to see this trail built ever since I was a little kid!" Case concluded.

Trail Planning for Recreation and Transportation

Because trails serve multiple purposes, overcoming perceptions that they are "just for recreation" is an important challenge. Urban trails in the United States provide valuable transportation benefits as well as feature recreational enjoyment. In a recent study conducted by the East Bay Regional Park District (1997) on its Iron Horse Trail, 36 percent of the participants in the study reported using the trail for transportation. Since 80 percent of all car trips are classified as "non-commute," you should not feel guilty if you smile while riding your bike to work. Try to cross-pollinate your trail planning, taking into consideration recreation as well as transportation.

Recreation Perspective

When creating a trail system, open-space experience, scenic vistas, resource values, and connections to other trails and open space should all be considered, Likewise, all user types -- including hikers, equestrians, and mountain bikers -- need to be incorporated into the alignment determination, design, and maintenance of the trail system.

Transportation Perspective

How can the trail function as an alternative to the single occupancy vehicle (SOV)? Where can the trail make convenient connections to job centers, schools, residential areas, and transit facilities? How can the trail be integrated with the existing road and bikeway system to address safety and convenience? What infrastructure improvements (parking, lockers, and showers at job sites) will encourage more bicycling on the trails for commute purposes? All of these questions should be addressed in order to create the ideal trail system.

Where's the Money?

Perhaps one of the most essential ingredients in any trail recipe is funding. Even with the perfect planning process, without financial backing, the plan will just sit on the shelf. There are three basic categories of funding that must be considered when creating a successful regional trail program: acquisition, development, and maintenance and operations.

It is usually easier to identify funding opportunities for acquisition and development than for operations and maintenance. Because these are more tangible and popular "upstarts," there are more sources currently available. The East Bay Regional Park District has taken advantage of many sources to acquire and develop its system including agency general funds, bond measures, state grants, habitat-conservation grants, local transportation measure funds, congestion-management/air-quality grants, National Recreation Trails grants, and programs such as the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA) and the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21).

These and a variety of other sources have assisted in the acquisition and development of trails. The cooperative planning efforts of developments, local jurisdictions, and the park district have provided both property dedications and trail development, accommodating open space and trail components in development plans. These efforts can be a win-win situation for both developer and park agency. Open space and trails have become a "marketing tool" for many new developments.

Funding maintenance and operations continues to be a challenge for most agencies. In order to address the costs associated with the expansion of the trail system in the East Bay Regional Park District, a special landscape lighting district for trail maintenance was proposed to voters in the two-county jurisdiction. In November 1997 (by a 77 percent majority) a minimal parcel assessment ($5.44/parcel/year) on property owners in Alameda and Contra Costa counties was approved to provide an ongoing source of funding for trail maintenance. A history of successful trail management and a variety of popular trail resources were key to this successful vote.

Acquisition of the Trail

To own or not to own? That is the question. There is a number of ways to approach acquiring rights for development and management of a trail system. Some provide more control -- and responsibility -- while others "get the job done" without a great expense for acquisition. The East Bay Regional Park District has used the following approaches:

Fee title -- Often used in acquiring open-space corridors for regional trails because it protects open space from development and is associated with parkland expansion.

Easement -- Recreational trail, scenic, or conservation easements are commonly used to complete trail segments across private properties.

License agreement -- Used regularly with other public agencies (utility corridors and water-district canals), this method allows the development of trails in conjunction with other compatible uses. Right-of-way costs are avoided, and long-term licenses protect capital investment in improvements. Other advantages include shared liability and maintenance. This arrangement does, however, require coordination and cooperation between agencies to prevent operational conflict.

Lease -- This approach provides the least control and is associated with an ongoing cost. Also, it is limiting if major capital improvements are necessary, but it is oftentimes the only possibility.

Developing and Maintaining your Trail

When deciding what recipe is right for you, ask yourself this question: Who needs what? Your agency must consider demographics, community and transportation needs, open-space connections, convenience, cost, and safety when developing its trail. In addition, the issues of parking, restrooms, street crossings, school connections, and access to community facilities must all be considered if a regional trail is to be functional and enjoyable.

What standards should be used? Consistency and coordination are absolutely critical. Consistency is a must when addressing operations, public safety, recognition, and convenience for the users and overall management. Coordination -- from both developmental and maintenance perspectives -- between jurisdictions is vital to a seamless trail that crosses many borders.

There are a number of operational efforts that can foster a well-received trail. High visibility by staff makes the public feel that trails are well maintained and safe. Volunteers, through maintenance and trail patrolling, can amplify the work done by part- and full-time staff. One of the East Bay Regional Park District's most successful programs is its volunteer trail patrol. Hiking patrols, with or without canine or equestrian companion, or bicycle, operate as liaisons of the district, donating more than 50,000 hours of annual patrol time. These enthusiastic trail volunteers wear identifiable vests, provide information to the public, report incidents, and have been instrumental in a number of rescues and injury-assistance situations.

If there is a problem with trails, it's that they are becoming very popular. As use increases, so does potential conflict. Volunteers have played a helpful role in addressing this issue in the East Bay and continue to have a positive impact. The recipe for success is to include all trail constituents in their own problem-solving and conflict reduction. The effort should produce goodwill and results.

Final Ingredient

And finally, as with any recipe, it takes practice, effort, and several tries to produce a masterpiece. So, don't give up. Trails are a wonderful resource, serving a broad spectrum of people. They are an integral part of our nation's history and settlement, and continue to serve as a vital component in the development of "livable communities." Regional trails function as the non-motorized freeway system that connects communities, parks, and people.

When trails are first proposed, there is sometimes resistance and anxiety. Studies such as the Burke Gilman Trail Study and the Impact of Rail Trails Study have shown that in the majority of cases initial concern has turned to acceptance and appreciation of the resource.

The East Bay Regional Park District encountered resistance when the Lafayette-Moraga Trail was built in 1976. In a study conducted in 1978, more than 90 percent of neighbors indicated they were happy the trail was there. In 1991, the trail was featured in the Impact of Rail Trails Study. When asked the same question, 97 percent voiced their approval. Many people have built access gates from their yard and admitted that they couldn't imagine life without their trail. Trail support is out there. People end up loving the resource. And, as with any recipe, it seems to get better with time.