Nature Together launching a new initiative titled Trails Together to identify and remove accessibility barriers at local hiking trails and outdoor spaces.
The group one of four inside Putnam County to take home a new state grant. Co-founder/CEO Summer Owen said the project relies on a community audit process where participants from vulnerable populations identify specific improvements needed.
“If you’re used to being able just to wake up and go on a hiking trail and enjoy your day and having no barriers, it’s not something that you ever think about,” Owen said. “People who are wheelchair-bound who have intellectual disabilities and might not understand how to go hiking or how to find those trailheads or what’s needed to get outside, or maybe seniors who need a little bit of extra assistance, and they can’t access certain parts of the trails. You know, these are things that prevent them from being outside and having an active lifestyle, and it’s things that as a community we can get together and we can help remove those barriers.”
Owen said the organization uses nature as a catalyst for healthy living by targeting groups such as senior homes, domestic violence shelters, and individuals with developmental disabilities.
Owen said the grant covers the cost of a contracted nature guide, adaptive gardening and art supplies, and the physical improvements selected by the participants.
“Whatever the group votes on on what they want to make more accessible is what we will bring to life and those are the things that the community will see,” Owen said. “So it’s supposed to be a community-driven project.”
Owen said potential improvements include the installation of handrails, additional water stations, and accessible signage for non-verbal individuals. Owen said the group is also considering the use of QR codes on trails to provide digital curriculum about the surrounding environment and wildlife.
“I hope that we will see tangible changes,” Owen said. “We hope that we will make these hiking trails in particular more accessible to our community. We also hope that we have built new relationships with our local Parks and Recs department and local city officials. That way all of the other notes and all of the other recommendations that our group comes up with can still be worked on and built on together even outside of the funding that we were granted.”
Owen said the organization currently operates at maximum capacity with a waitlist for participants and requires more volunteers to serve as nature guides. Owen said the nonprofit also partners with the Department of Disability and Aging and local business sponsors to ensure programming remains free for the community.
“In order to keep everything free, we lean on our local businesses to sponsor each group,” Owen said.
The funding comes through the Healthy Built Environments and Active Recreation Transformation (HEART) grant and will be utilized over the next two years.