Understanding Local Perceptions of Management and Values of Long Distance Trails:
Summary of Masters Project, Duke University, 2015

By Julie Judkins, 

Director of Education and Outreach, Appalachian Trail Conservancy

Introduction

Trails are built for connecting people to nature: an important first step of building conservation advocates. Long distance trails offer recreational opportunities, economic stimulus for neighboring communities, education and research opportunities, and lifelong activity.  They provide connectivity for human passage and can offer an experience of a lifetime, a pilgrimage of reflection or spiritual awakening.  Most importantly, the lands that national trails traverse are protective corridors providing ecosystem services, valuable migration pathways, significant natural resources, and help sustain biological diversity. The Appalachian Trail, for example, runs primarily along the ridgelines of the Appalachian Mountain range and Trail lands protect headwater streams for many of the east coast’s watersheds.

Unlike many large protected areas or national parks, trails are delicate ribbons traveling across numerous land management areas, municipalities, and states.  Delicate because, as infrastructure continues to surge to meet our growing population, trail corridors become more susceptible to encroachments from roads, gas lines, or housing developments.  The wilderness experience desired by so many becomes much less accessible with these growing threats.

Trailside communities provide significant support and access, and are integral components of long distance trails, offering important services to hikers.  Communities often receive significant economic benefit from the trail users (Econsult Corporation, 2007; Johnson, 1998).  Localities have a vested interest in trail conservation to assure a healthy ecosystem and protect their water and foodsheds.  Without support of these neighboring communities, trails may become irrelevant, lose social support, and become vulnerable to development, misuse, and environmental degradation.

To better identify incentives to boost community engagement and stewardship, trail managers need to understand the values and perceptions of those living in trailside communities.  Such values may focus on cultural assets, recreation, economic development, biodiversity, clean air and water, scenery, or even the cultural diversity that is added by new visitors coming into communities.

It’s clear that engaging trailside communities in the active management, promotion and decision-making is crucial in order to protect long distance trails as well as their communities. Research shows that local community participation in decision-making within national parks is the most significant variable relating to the community’s level of compliance with park policies and “the higher the level of participation, the higher the level of compliance”(Andrade, 2012).

As a manager working with the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, I wanted to understand how we can best engage communities in long distance trails.   My research explores:

• What local communities value about the long distance trail that they live adjacent to or within, and what are the negative impacts.
• The knowledge and interest in management of the trails.
• The differences in historical context, how that adds to values and attitudes of two national trails.

Indicators of community attitudes and values on trails and their management may include historical context, social, cultural or economic factors.

Site Selection

Looking across two different cultures of two, similarly managed, wilderness trails, I analyzed the differences and commonalities between community perception of and engagement with each trail.

The Appalachian National Scenic Trail (A.T.), traveling over 2000 miles across the ridges of the Eastern seaboard of the US, from northern Georgia through Maine, and the Pennine Way, beginning in the Peak District national park, England and traveling up 268 miles through the middle of the country to the Scotland border.

I selected these two iconic trails for comparison because both are designated as national trails, intended for foot travel only, built for scenic recreation, and connect a series of national parks, forests and protected areas.

I selected two communities adjacent to each Trail for interviews.  I assessed differences between one community on each trail that is characterized as “engaged”, or partnering with trail managers in some way (Damascus, Virginia, and Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire, England) and one community not known to be engaged with management partners (Rural Retreat/Atkins, Virginia, and Malham, Yorkshire Dales National Park).

Background

Appalachian Trail

In 1920’s, Benton MacKaye, forester and regional planner, held a radical vision for a long distance trail along the spine of the Appalachian Mountains. After his article proposing the development of An Appalachian Trail was published, the nation sprang into action to establish such a Trail, the first of its kind in scope and forethought.  Not only did his paper spur groups of volunteers and federal partners to come together to develop an Appalachian Trail, or A.T., it also catalyzed a greater movement with the development of long distance trails. In 1968, President Johnson signed the National Trails System Act, designating it as a National Scenic Trail, and putting it under federal protection as a unit of the national park system.  Across the world, the A.T. became a legend and model.

An amendment to Trails Act expanded the federal government’s ability to acquire lands for the Trail.   This happened at a time when park service acquisition was becoming more aggressive, even dubbed the ‘get tough’ policies. Because of the Trail’s unique cooperative partnership with its volunteers, the acquisition process remained a bottom-up approach.  The transition from handshake agreements for “rights to walk” to an active land acquisition process still created confusion and resentment at a time when there was a growing political movement against federal expansion. Because of the unique partnership and leadership of volunteer-based clubs, the Department of Interior delegated responsibility of some management aspects to the Appalachian Trail Conference, which, in turn, delegated responsibility to each club.

For close to a century, the 31 Volunteer Trail Clubs and some 6,000 volunteers that manage the A.T. have remained vital stakeholders in the management of the Trail. Many clubs don’t reside directly next to the Trail, traveling hundreds of miles each year to steward their section of Trail.

The Communities:

Damascus was chosen as the engaged community along the A.T., as it is one of the few towns that the Trail travels directly through. The town is lovingly referred to as “Trail Town, USA”.

There are no known partnerships with trail managers in rural retreat, Virginia or Atkins, which is an unincorporated community directly adjacent to Rural Retreat.

The unique governance structure of the A.T. is known as the cooperative management system, where no management decision is made without each entity: the land managing agency, the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, and the affiliated Volunteer Trail Club.  Currently, the community partners are not included in this management structure.

Pennine Way

Not long after MacKaye published his article, another famous write-up was published in Great Britain. Author Tom Stephenson sought a similar walking ‘track’:  Now known as the Pennine Way, Britain’s first National Trail follows ancient Roman paths and is often called ‘the backbone of England.’

Historically, hikers, or walkers or ramblers as they’re called in England, were denied access to areas of open country. The general enclosure act of 1845 were a series of private acts of enclosure – closing off over 7 million acres (Slater, 1913).

As Benny Rothman wrote: “We ramblers, after a hard week’s work in smoky towns and cities, go out rambling for relaxation, a breath of fresh air, a little sunshine.  But what we find when we go out, that the finest rambling country is closed to us, just because certain individuals wish to shoot for about ten days a year.”

In 1932, Benny led 400 walkers in a mass Trespass at Kinder Scout in the Peak District, to bring awareness to the fact that ramblers were denied access to the countryside. Leading up to this historic event the year before, six regional federations had joined forces creating a National Ramblers Federation, to establish walker rights.  The Trespass initiated years of advocacy for ramblers to have the ‘right to roam’, or access to the ‘countryside’ (Ramblers, 2015).

The campaign was successful, culminating the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act in 1949- it created the national trail system in England, and addressed the public’s right of access (Speakman, 2011). Not long after in 1965 a ceremony took place in Malham to celebrate the completion of the Pennine Way.

The Communities:

Hebden Bridge was an industrial town that went through economic decline and is finding that outdoor recreation as a means of economic growth.  This engaged community has a branding initiative of ‘walkers are welcome’ highlighting the community’s efforts to support outdoor recreation, an initiative that has grown to 100 towns in the UK.
Malham sits within Yorkshire Dales National Park.  One of the 40 dales or communities within the park is Malhamdale, and within it, the small village of Malham.  Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority is an independent organization within the local governance.  Unlike national parks in the US, the park does not define itself as a wilderness area but, instead, as a ‘working environment and home’.

Similar to the A.T.’s cooperative management system, the Pennine’s 268 miles are managed by a partnership made up of Natural England , local authorities responsible for the footpath, landowners and volunteers.

Management for the Pennine Way is changing, and soon to be delegated from Natural England to Yorkshire Dales National Park.  As stated by Natural England’s New Deal, which was drafted in 2013, revised management standards will focus on:

Experience – Enhancement – Engagement – and Economy. Marketing is delegated to Walk Unlimited, a social enterprise company that promotes walking initiatives and expertise on wayfinding, and interpretation.

Methodology

I conducted semi-structured stakeholder interviews with 30 key actors including community members in the service industry , community leaders and staff of local, community organizations. Stratified purposeful sampling was used to reach a cross-section of stakeholders, and to find similarities and differences among subgroups.

Each interview was coded into multiple nodes then grouped into four major themes: Benefits, Negative Impacts, Understanding of Management, and Needs.

Themes

Benefits – the majority of respondents found the trail of benefit to the community.

24 out of 30 actors mentioned the economic and promotional benefits, totaling 56 different references. One example from Damascus stated We owe the fact that we stay afloat as a community because of the A.T.; after industry left, that was all we had.

And in Malham, one stated Absolutely—there is a financial benefit from this tourism.  200 people live in Malham. Tonight there are probably 400 people staying here.  It is like a gateway—maybe 1000 visitors came through tonight. These references were consistent across both trails and all four communities.

Negative Impacts
Mention of negative impacts to the communities were minimal, most came from interviews along the Pennine Way. Some of the main concerns from Malham and Hebden Bridge were based on user impacts to the trail itself: as the treadway crosses sensitive moorland habitat and the soggy surface is easily eroded from walkers not staying on the path. Impacts also included unleashed dogs disturbing sheep stock and open gates that allowed sheep to escape. One farmer, who also owns a bed and breakfast, stated:, “I’d dig up [the Pennine Way] and throw it away if I had anything to do with it.  It takes up an acre of my land—  which takes up 10% of the fields —and I’m not reimbursed at all.”

Along the A.T., there was definite angst among respondents about the federal government, and many thought trail managers were government agents. When asked about trail management, one librarian said: “[We] don’t want big brother presence,… even someone like a mayor would be intimidated by a large, faceless bureaucracy.” Another store owner, when asked about who manages the trail, answered: “The Federal government cause it don’t matter what I say no way. That trickles down through the state and trail clubs.  There’s a way that people live in a cubicle and then there is a way we local people live.  When we see something that needs to happen, I’m talking the maintaining, we just move it or go get it or do it.  It isn’t complicated as a pen and paper.”

The work that an Americorps VISTA volunteer is doing within the community of Damascus was very highly respected, however, even though the VISTA program is federally funded.  “The person we like the most is Brady [VISTA volunteer]; we are so going to miss him.  He’s brought so much more awareness to the area—- now we know where the trail is! It has changed Damascus and revitalized it.  We don’t have a lot of chances here— – and we are booming.  He has made all the difference.  The way he’s integrated into the community as a part of the community and the NPS…   Boy o boy has he been a fantastic advocate.” Another interviewee added, “We feel much more comfortable going to him with ideas ideas—– it is much easier, and. [It’s] good for both partners.”

This dissonance with the federal government wasn’t brought up in the England interviews.  In fact, interviewees expressed pride when discussing how walkers/hikers were able to access the land.  When referring to the Kinder Scout Trespass revolt, a Hebden Bridge interviewee described the “long time rambler, anarchist walker” as “acting on behalf of the greater good.” He went on to say that it was a “big deal, the perception that we are no longer banned from those areas. Our belonging to the countryside gives us more of a sense of place.”

The conflict described along the Pennine Way was between the walkers and the farmers, or landowners, and the walkers.  Only one farmer, was interviewed, as most of the farmers don’t live within the communities.  Further research is needed to define farmers’ attitudes and perceptions about the Pennine Way.

Understanding of Trail Management

The majority, over 70% of respondents and stakeholders, when asked about who managed the trail, stated they didn’t know.  14 interviewed had some understanding, generally limited to knowing that the Trail is managed by the park service or local authorities.

Needs

Multiple people suggested ways to increase the trails’ use by locals or visitors, including expanding day hikes, loop hikes, section hikes and access information.  Many expressed concerned that local youth don’t understand the geology, geography and assets of their own communities.  These respondents stressed the need to raise awareness locally at the school level.  One Damascus respondent said: “I grew up here and never knew the trail went right through here.”  In Malham, A 19-year-old interviewee said: “I don’t know what parts are the [Pennine Way] versus the other trails.”   The Pennine Way could be seen from the window of the establishment where we were having this interview.

Conclusions and Recommendations

• Given the stakeholder consensus on the benefits of both trails and its economic and promotional values, managers should leverage this interest to support communication strategies that will increase awareness of local trail related assets.
• Investing in economic impact studies to communicate how much outdoor recreation contributes will provide important data for community leaders.

• Given stated needs and desires from both trails to involve youth and increase interpretation and access, community groups, volunteers, and managers can cooperatively  work to promote youth involvement. They can create programs, activities and stewardship programs  that would attract families and employ youth.

• Governance systems for management along both Trails could better integrate community representatives. They could work to strengthen structures for coordinated communication and input as well as increase trust among local institutions.

• Providing mechanisms for local and regional partners to provide input in trail decisions, as well as placing staff and volunteers within trailside communities can strengthen communication, mitigate threats, create stronger policies, increase awareness of trail management, and encourage stewardship participation. One example is the Americorps VISTA program, where a volunteer can support communities and act as a liaison between agencies and localities.

• Understanding the motivational basis of attitudes can aid managers in engaging residents in trail management.

• Partnerships are necessary for a symbiotic relationship between a long distance trail and its trailside inhabitants.

• Trail management decisions can impact local community values, and local/regional decisions can affect trails and their resources.

• Given the the complexities of management across multiple jurisdictions, coalition groups must find ways to integrate community input into decisions, find communication techniques to add participatory involvement, and create strategies for raising awareness at the local level.

• Trust is necessary for partners to provide reciprocity, and with trust, cooperative management and ‘knowledge partnerships’ can create meaningful advances in the protection and promotion of long distance trails.

This research confirms the needs from long distance trail managers to

1) engage with trailside neighbors

2) promote the trail as a local asset and

3) be cognizant of historical context.

The best way for managers to engage with communities is by expanding on the benefits that local communities already see.  Providing increased awareness, education, interpretation and promotional assistance will meet needs and encourage cooperation.

Finally, there is little research or collaboration across international long distance trails, and management, or promotional support for them. Initiatives such as the World Trails Network and the International Trails Symposium could provide important content and leadership for development of promotional materials.

References

*For a full list of references and literature cited, contact jjudkins@appalachiantrail.org

Andrade, G. S. M. (2012). Protected areas and local communities: an inevitable partnership toward successful conservation strategies?. Ecology and Society, 17(4), 14. doi: http://dx.doi. org/10.5751/ES-05216-170414

Econsult Corporation. (2007). The potential economic impacts of the proposed carolina thread trail . Retrieved from http://www.carolinathreadtrail.org/assets/files/CTT_Economic_Study.pdf

Johnson, R. (1998). Creating connections the pennsylvania greenways and trails how-to manual . Retrieved from Pennsylvania Environmental Council website: file:///C:/Users/jej24/Documents/mp/creatingconnections PA Guide.pdf

Ramblers Association. (2015). General History. Retrieved February 1, 2015, from http://www.ramblers.org.uk/about-us/our-history.aspx#sthash.ol3drY9M.dpuf

Slater, G. (1913). The Land: the report of the land enquiry committee. Chapter, A historical outline of land ownership in england.  Hodder & Stoughton.

Speakman, C. (2011).  Walk! A Celebration of Striding Out. Chapter 3. Great Northern Books, Ilkley, UK.