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.