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Contact: Ann Honious, 678-538-1200
Contact: Beth Wheeler, 404-803-7641
SANDY SPRINGS, GA – Today, the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area (Chattahoochee River NRA) launched public commenting on a comprehensive strategy for improving the park’s trail system.
The public comment period on the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area Comprehensive Trails Management Plan / Environmental Assessment will be open from April 1, 2022, through April 30, 2022. A previous round of public comment in Spring 2021 helped inform the development of the plan and environmental assessment.
“We are pleased to offer this opportunity for the public to provide additional input on the future of the park’s trail system,” said Superintendent Ann Honious. “We’ve used what we have heard from our past outreach and designed a trail system that should be more sustainable, more enjoyable, and better connected to neighboring trails. Now, we are requesting final feedback from the public and our stakeholders on this effort.”
The public is invited to submit written comments on the environmental assessment and plan at the project website. Written comments may be submitted by visiting parkplanning.nps.gov/CRNRA_Trails and selecting “Open for Comment” on the left menu bar and selecting “Comprehensive Trails Management Plan / Environmental Assessment.”
Written comments may also be submitted by mail to:
National Park Service
Denver Service Center
Attn: CRNRA Trails Plan / Charles Lawson
12795 West Alameda Pkwy
Denver, CO 80228
Written comments on the plan must be submitted online or postmarked by April 30, 2022, to be considered.
About the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area Comprehensive Trails Management Plan / Environmental Assessment:
Within the park's boundary are approximately 65 miles of pedestrian and mixed-use trails. Most of the existing trail system consists of legacy social trails, relict roadbeds, and utility corridors predating the park's establishment in 1978. These legacy trails were never intentionally designed for a positive trail experience. They lack connectivity to neighboring trail systems while potentially degrading water quality through erosion runoff and impacting plant habitat. Many of the existing trails are also difficult and costly to maintain.
To help address the issues, the National Park Service developed a plan for design and maintenance of an improved pedestrian and multi-use trail system for the entirety of the Chattahoochee River NRA. After working with trail users and professional trail designers, the park developed a set of trail design proposals for each of the park’s 15 land units. The designs are presented as the NPS preferred alternative in the trails plan and aim to improve the visitor experience on trails, improve the sustainability of the park’s trail system, and improve its connectivity to planned and existing regional trail systems – including the proposed Chattahoochee RiverLands Greenway.
The NPS preferred alternative in the Comprehensive Trails Management Plan includes programmatic actions, which would apply parkwide, and specific trail designs for each unit of the park. The unit-specific trail designs are best understood by reading the descriptions and viewing the maps in the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area Comprehensive Trails Management Plan / Environmental Assessment available for download on the project website (parkplanning.nps.gov/CRNRA_Trails).
After public comments are received, park staff may adjust components of the preferred alternative, as necessary, before finalizing the plan and environmental assessment.
About the National Park Service. More than 20,000 National Park Service employees care for America’s 423 national parks and work with communities across the nation to help preserve local history and create close-to-home recreational opportunities. Learn more at www.nps.gov, and on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.
Last updated: October 10, 2024