World Trails Summit Recap
This year, three Maine Trails Coalition members had the chance to attend the World Trails Conference this October in Ottawa, Canada. In this blog post,MTC member and Northern New England Manager for the East Coast Greenway Alliance, Emily Paskewicz, shares with us about her first World Trails Conference experience.
What was your take on the World Trails Conference?
Even though it's an international conference, the World Trail's Conference is surprisingly tight-knit. It was really easy to find, meet, and connect with people working on long distance trails all over the world. I learned so much, particularly about bringing indigenous groups into trail projects. "Nothing about us without us" is a quote from one of the Tuesday keynote speakers, Kevin Seesequasis, that succinctly sums up this topic.
Did you get to attend any Excursions while attending?
Yes, I was able to take a tour of the Prescott-Russel Recreational Trail which is a a 72 km (~45 mile)t multi-function/multi-use trail. It is used in the winter for cross country skiing, snowshoeing and snowmobiling, and in other seasons it is used by walkers and cyclists. This trail utilizes an abandoned Canadian Pacific rail corridor between Montreal to Ottawa.
The Prescott-Russel recreational trail is a great example of a trail being managed and maintained by a small friends-of group and local volunteers. It also has planned connections on either end to both Montreal and Ottawa and has the potential to be a really unique tourist attraction and long-distance route for cyclists. This trail is similar to many in-progress sections of the East Coast Greenway and was a really great case study on long distance trail progress.
What are some of your takeaways and ideas you have for Maine after attending?
Thinking of trail tourist's as 'temporary locals". I love this concept and think communities that embrace this will be and are the most welcoming trail towns.
Building up infrastructure around trails in a way that serves both locals and tourists so that trail tourists are contributing to the broader local economy instead of just a separate system created just for tourists.
What else did you do at the World Trails Summit?
I attended a session and had a bunch of good conversations about climate resilience and trails, and my big takeaway was that we simply need to keep having the conversation. We don't have the answers yet for whether we should 'rebuild or retreat', but we need to keep having the discussion, and not shy away from it for existing and future trails.
Would you attend the World Trails Conference again?
Yes, most definitely! I enjoyed that this conference was close to Maine and it helped me to network with regional partners, but wherever it is next, I highly recommend it to anyone working in the trails space as well as community and regional planning and economic development to consider attending.
Find out about the next World Trails Conference by visiting their website where you can also sign up for updates. The WTC rotates locations, so this event was the last one in North America for a few years.
Learn more about event partner and Maine neighbor, the Trans Canada Trail and follow them on Facebook: @TCtrailSentierTC and Instagram @transcanadatrail.
Photos: Emily Paskewicz, Trans Canada Trail and Union Eleven Photographers.
