Rivers, Trails, and Conservation Project Assistance

Rivers & Trails staff provide technical assistance to local communities, agencies, and grassroot groups to help them accomplish specific conservation and recreation projects. Below you will find examples of the types of projects we often work with. See our Plans, Products, and Resources page for samples of our partnership products.

Trails and Greenway Planning

Rivers & Trails works with trail groups to plan and develop trail networks and greenway corridors. Projects range from small-scale community planning focused on key biking, hiking, and multiple-use trails to regional systems designed for long-distance trail connections, wildlife conservation, habitat protection, and landscape preservation. RTCA can help you develop a clear vision for your trails and greenways, and will work with you to produce a concept plan that will be a foundation for trail support and implementation.

Water Trail Development

Thinking of traveling on water instead of land? Rivers & Trails can help your organization bring partners together to focus on building a blue trail system that includes launch and landing sites, community involvement, education and stewardship, publicity campaigns, and official designation events.

Rail-Trail Planning

Converting abandoned railroad lines to public trail corridors requires specialized knowledge - - particularly for local governments and organizations unfamiliar with federal laws regulating railroad companies and interstate commerce. The Rivers & Trails program has been involved with the ‘Rails-to-Trails’ movement in America since the mid-1980’s and has a long-standing partnership with the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, a national non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the development and use of rail-trails. Our staff can provide planning and organizational assistance on trail projects related to abandoned, about-to-be-abandoned, or even active railroad corridors.

Watershed Planning

Rivers & Trails helps watershed councils, friends of river groups, and communities develop watershed plans. While our staff are not technical scientists, they bring non-partisan group facilitation, team leadership, community outreach, and integration of a community’s input into the planning process to make watershed planning more successful.

River Conservation

Having trouble reaching and educating the public on the need for river conservation and stream stewardship? Want to develop and prioritize a plan for conservation action? Need to create a community monitoring program? Contact Rivers & Trails to find out how our staff can bring innovative methods to your efforts.

Open Space Protection

RTCA assists non-profit groups and local governments with developing open space management plans, prioritizing parcels to be targeted for acquisition, and creating outreach materials to increase community awareness for conservation and open space efforts. If your group needs help with funding strategies, conceptual planning, or gaining public support for your open space efforts, Rivers & Trails may be able to give you a boost.

Gateway Community Visioning

Communities located next to large tracts of public land have unique characteristics and challenges. RTCA works with citizens in gateway communities to provide direction and tools to carry out partnership efforts. Through focus groups and community-wide workshops, we help residents and gateway neighbors develop a vision and craft a plan for action. Also available is an easy-to-use, hands-on notebook, "Building Gateway Partnerships," for carrying out this process in your gateway community.

National Initiatives

Rivers & Trails staff bring cutting edge techniques and a national perspective to local conservation projects. Here are some of the innovative ways in which Rivers & Trails is at the forefront of community-based recreation and conservation planning.

Healthy Communities

The Surgeon General has identified physical inactivity as the number one public health problem in America. Obesity is a now a bona fide epidemic, proving that most of us get too little exercise to preserve our health. Communities are increasingly recognizing that if residents are to have active, healthy lives they need close-to-home places to recreate and safe, appealing foot and bike routes to schools, work, and services. The National Park Service, in partnership with several federal agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control, is committed to promoting public health through outdoor physical activity. Seattle Rivers & Trails staff are working with the Washington Department of Health to help the community of Moses Lake plan footpaths and bikeways, and to establish programs to promote regular physical activity.

Art and Community Landscapes

In partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts, and the New England Foundation for the Arts, the National Park Service launched "Art & Community Landscapes" through the Rivers & Trails program in 2002. This national initiative established three artists-in-residence teams throughout the United States, with our Seattle office awarded a pair of renowned artists from New York City and Oakland, California. Rivers & Trails projects in Tillamook, Oregon, Puyallup, Washington, and Caldwell, Idaho, are now benefitting from community-driven processes that use art (and our artists) to spur environmental awareness and community action. For more information on Art & Community Landscapes, go to www.nefa.org/grantprog/acl/.

Partnership Charettes

In 1998 the Seattle Rivers & Trails program and the Washington Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects (WASLA) established a partnership to offer joint technical assistance to Rivers & Trails projects throughout Washington. Our annual partnership work typically takes the form of a "charette," or design workshop, that brings volunteer design professionals together with community members to explore and develop solutions to meet local project needs. Seattle's International District, the town of Liberty Lake, and Skagit County have most recently benefitted from these charettes. The Seattle Rivers & Trails/WASLA partnership provided the inspiration behind a national agreement between the American Society of Landscape Architects and the National Park Service to collaborate on conservation projects throughout the United States.

National Designation Programs

In the Pacific Northwest, Rivers & Trails is responsible for coordinating two national designation programs—National Recreation Trails and Wild & Scenic Rivers.

National Recreation Trails

In 1968, the National Trails System Act established a framework for a national system of three types of trails. National Scenic Trails and National Historic Trails require congressional designation and are administered by federal agencies identified in the specific legislation establishing each trail. National Recreation Trails (NRTs), created to recognize exemplary trails of local and regional significance, are managed by public and private agencies at the local, state, and federal level but do not require congressional designation. Rivers & Trails staff process applications from a trail's managing agency for NRT designation by the Secretary of Interior. We also provide support to NRTs with an array of benefits that include promotion, technical assistance, networking, and access to funding. To learn more about NRTs, go to www.americantrails.org/nationalrecreationtrails/.

Wild & Scenic Rivers

The Wild and Scenic Act of 1968 established a national system of rivers and river segments that are designated based on their 'outstandingly remarkable' resource values. Congress directs and funds the study of specific rivers for eligibility and suitability for inclusion in the national system and then considers their designation. Rivers & Trails staff often conduct these river studies. Wild & Scenic River designation does not require federal ownership of land or federal management responsibilities. Under some circumstances, a river or river segment may be designated at the request of a governor. For more information on Wild & Scenic Rivers, go to www.nps.gov/rivers/.