Trail Resources and Advocacy
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IMPORTANT LINKS:

WI Nonmotorized Recreation and Transportation Trails Council (DNR Website) Link

WI Nonmotorized Recreation and Transportation Trails Council Facebook Page Link

Governor's Wisconsin State Trails Council (DNR Website) Link

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NOTICE: Draft Northern Lake Michigan Coastal Regional Master Plan Open Houses Planned

The public will have an opportunity at two open house meetings and through a comment period to provide input on a draft master plan for Department of Natural Resources lands in Door and Oconto counties and parts of Marinette and Shawano counties. The draft Northern Lake Michigan Coastal regional master plan establishes the level and type of resource management and public use permitted on these department-managed properties.

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TRAIL SAFE!

TRAIL SAFE!  is a unique safety training program designed specifically for National Park Service (NPS) Trail Volunteers, but is useful to everyone!  It's based upon NPS Operational Leadership Training, where the Human Factor of safety is explored. Trail Safe! allows volunteers to learn from their own homes on-line.

The Trail Safe!  series is found in eight video lessons, each ranging in length from 18 to 40 minutes long. Viewing the entire eight lesson series will take approximately three hours.  Watch them over the course of multiple days, or "binge watch" the entire series in three hours—it's up to you—but please watch them in numeric order from Lesson 1 through Lesson 8.  Or, watch them as a group/club and learn together.  This is a great activity for part of a club meeting.  Remember – this is a program to further educate volunteers on working safely while working on trails.  Click on this link to be redirected to the lesson site.  https://www.nps.gov/iatr/trail-safe.htm

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WHC Equestrian Representation Back on the Governor's State Trails Council - by Kricket Jewett

We are pleased to announce that Kricket Jewett, WHC Director has been appointed to the Governor's State Trails Council. Congratulations, Kricket!

Please click on the link below to read an article that Kricket wrote regarding this appointment.

EQUESTRIAN REPRESENTATION BACK ON THE GOVERNOR'S STATE TRAILS COUNCIL - (PDF)

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TRAIL SAFETY BROCHURES

Check out our new Sharing Trails Safely with Horses Brochure! Simply click on the link below to open a PDF that you can then read and/or print out. Happy Trails!

WHC Sharing Trails Safely with Horses Brochure - (PDF)

Also, please click on the link below to view the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resource's "Wisconsin Trail Etiquette & Safety Guidelines Tips for Trail Users".

It covers tips and responsibilities for all trail users and specific tips and rules for walkers, hikers, backpackers, runners, in-line skating, bicyclists, mountain bikers, equestrians, cross-country skiers, snowshoers, snowmobile, ATV, off-highway motorcycles and 4WD operators.

Please take a moment to read and/or print out this helpful brochure so that everyone may become educated and safe on the trail systems.

WDNR Wisconsin Trail Etiquette & Safety Guidelines Tips for Trail Users
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Quick Links: Horse Trail Advocacy | Federal Volunteer Protection | Funding and Grants | Economic Benefit | General Information

The following links are provided as resources only and not as endorsements. We do not assume responsibility for content of these sites and views expressed are not necessarily those of WHC.

Horse Trail Advocacy

• American Land Rights Association
• American Recreation Coalition
• American Trails
• Back Country Horsemen of America
• BlueRibbon Coalition
• Caledonia Conservancy
• Envirohorse
• Equestrian Land Conservation Resource
• Glacial Drumlin Horse Trail Association
• Illinois Trail Riders
• National Trails Training Partnership
• Recreational Trails Program - Planning and Environment - FHWA
• Rails-to-Trails Conservancy
• State Horse Council Advisory Committee
• Topica Email List Directory

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Federal Volunteer Protection

• Volunteer Protection Act
  How the Law Will Affect Associations
• Volunteer Protection Act of 1997
  Fed Law protects volunteers 501(c)(3) & 501(c)(4)
• Volunteer Protection Act of 1997 3
  Very Detailed
• Volunteer Protection Act of 1997 More
  More detail about law

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Funding and Grants

• American Hiking Org
  Funds for trails come from various sources, including federal appropriations, state funds, grants, and private donations. Regardless of administration or funding source, most trails are founded on public-private partnerships and include some form of cost-sharing or leveraging. Volunteer contributions both through labor and direct funding are critical to trail construction, protection, and continued maintenance. In 1999, volunteer contributions to the national scenic and historic trails alone totaled over 550,000 volunteer hours (with an estimated labor value of $7.4 million) and $5.7 million in financial contributions. Countless more funds and labor help establish and protect trails on our public lands in general.
• DNR Lake & River Grants
  The Bureau of Community Financial Assistance administers the grants listed. To learn more about an individual grant, please review list on web site.
• Kodak American Greenways Awards Program
  Kodak, The Conservation Fund, and the National Geographic Society, provide small grants to stimulate the planning and design of greenways in communities throughout America. The annual grants program was instituted in response to the President's Commission on Americans Outdoors recommendation to establish a national network of greenways. Made possible by a generous grant from Eastman Kodak, the program also honors groups and individuals whose ingenuity and creativity foster the creation of greenways.
• National Scenic Byways Program
  Providing resources to the byway community that will enable better management of byway organizations and the intrinsic qualities they value and work hard to protect. (Source of Fed Funds)
• Patagonia
  Patagonia funds only environmental work. We are most interested in making grants to organizations that identify and work on the root causes of problems and that approach issues with a commitment to long-term change. We look for programs with a clear agenda for change and a strategic plan for achieving the organization’s goals. Because we believe that true change will occur only through a strong grassroots movement, our funding focuses on organizations that build a strong base of citizen support.
• Recreational Trails Program (Source of Fed Funding)
  The Recreational Trails Program (RTP) is an assistance program of the Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). Federal transportation funds benefit recreation by making funds available to the States to develop and maintain recreational trails and trail-related facilities for both non-motorized and motorized recreational trail uses.
• River Alliance of WI
  The River Alliance of Wisconsin is a non-profit, non-partisan group of citizens, organizations and businesses dedicated to advocating for the protection, enhancement and restoration of our rivers and watersheds.
• Take Pride in America
  We hope that you will spend some time looking around. You can find opportunities for volunteering on federal lands, state and local contacts in many states, and information about how to initiate your own Take Pride in America project or event. Remember that the public lands and buildings belong to you. You are responsible for doing your part to keep them free from litter and graffiti. Together we must maintain our natural, cultural and historic resources and improve them so that we can all enjoy them now and our children and grandchildren can enjoy them in the future.
• Tourism Grant
  The Wisconsin Department of Tourism administers a $1.13 million Joint Effort Marketing (JEM) Grant Program. JEM provides partnership funding to help non-profit Wisconsin organizations promote tourism in their area.
• Transportation Enhancements (Source of Fed Funding)
  The list of qualifying TE activities provided in 23 U.S.C. 101(a)(35) is intended to be exclusive, not illustrative. Only those projects that are listed in one of the 12 categories are eligible for transportation enhancement funds.

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Economic Benefit

• Benefits of Trails and Greenways
• Economic Impacts of Recreation on the Upper Mississippi River System
  The value of the Upper Mississippi River System (UMRS) as a national resource is being ever more widely recognized. The system is vital in supporting ecological systems, commercial navigation and a wide variety of recreational activities
• Economic Impacts of Recreation and Tourism
  Recreation and Tourism Activities have significant impacts on regional economies. This site summarizes economic impact concepts and methods, focusing particularly on their applications to recreation and tourism.
• Economic Impacts of Trails
• Impacts of Trails and Trail Use
• Outdoor Recreation in American Life: A National Assessment of Demand and Supply Trends
  This book contains the results of the most recent national assessment of outdoor recreation and wilderness.

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General Information

• A+ Equine & Buffalo/Bison
  Yahoo discussion group on Equine sports, tack, etc.
• AERC Trails Page
  AERC Trails page is created by the American Endurance Ride Conference’s AERC Trails committee to provide equestrian trail users with information regarding national trail use and preservation, urgent actions needed for same and upcoming events as well as links for trails, horse camping, travel and other useful references for trail riders.
• American Land Rights Association
  The American Land Rights Association (ALRA) is a grassroots, non-profit organization advocating private property rights and multiple use of federal lands including recreational and commercial access. ALRA is engaged in issues such as compensation for government takings of property, defending cabin permittees and inholders of private property within federal lands such as national parks and national forests, opposition to land acquisition trust funds such as the Conservation and Reinvestment Act (CARA), and support for rural communities. Headquartered in Battle Ground, Washington, we also have a full-time staff and office in Washington DC.
• American Trails
  American Trails is the only national, nonprofit organization working on behalf of ALL trail interests. American Trails’ members want to create and protect America’s network of interconnected trails. We support local, regional, and long-distance trails and greenways, whether they be in backcountry, rural, or urban areas. Our goal is to support America’s trails by finding common ground and promoting cooperation among all trail interests. We’re involved in everything from training trails advocates to providing increased trail opportunities for individuals with disabilities.
• Back Country Horsemen of America
  Back Country Horsemen of America is a non-profit corporation made up of state organizations, affiliates and at large members.
• BlueRibbon Coalition
  Representing recreationists, we work hard in “Preserving our Natural Resources for the Public, instead of from the Public.”
• Equestrian Land Conservation Resource
  Dedicated to promoting access to and conservation of land for equestrian use
• GDHTA
  Join the Glacial Drumlin Horse Trail Association discussion group
• Illinois Trail Riders
  Dedicated to Keeping Horses on our Trails
• Land Trust Alliance
• National Trails Training Partnership
  THE NATIONAL TRAILS TRAINING PARTNERSHIP (NTTP) is a forum of diverse trail organizations and agencies whose mission is to improve opportunities for training for the nationwide trails community. Join us to promote training opportunities! American Trails maintains an extensive calendar of classes, workshops, and training sessions on-line and is developing the NTTP database of a wide variety of trail-related resources.
• Trails for Trail Riders
  A Trails Directory
• US Equine Trails Coalition
  The United States - Equine Trails Coalition is an association of horseback trail riding enthusiasts, equestrian organizations and other equine users who share that enthusiasm, which is dedicated to preserving America's cultural heritage of enjoying this Nation’s open spaces from the back of and with the use of a horse. Integral to continuing this heritage is assuring and preserving, and establishing new, equine access to trailheads, staging areas, facilities, trails and horse camps.
• WDNR Lands Mapping Application
  See maps of DNR Lands.

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