Introduction

Trails have been called “America’s new front porch” because they often provide a welcoming, open, and friendly environment for making important human connections that are vital to a community’s quality of life. People generally feel happier and willing to engage with one another when they are in an environment where they feel safe and supported. Think about how you feel when you’re outdoors in a peaceful setting, aware of where you are and where you are going, and able to concentrate on the environment around you. This type of sensation is commonly felt by people using trails and can help contribute to a feeling of community and sense of appreciation for what the community offers. The many social benefits of trails and greenways are well known by trail users around Michigan as trail events such as organized hikes, bike rides, equestrian events, and snowmobile and off-road vehicle events often become the setting for building and maintaining social connections.

Social Benefits of Trails

The social benefits of trails and greenways are well-demonstrated and far-reaching:

• Trails connect people and their community (both figuratively and literally).
• Trails can increase residents’ quality of life.
• Trails can help increase the knowledge of the community and its members.
• Trails can expand the diversity of a community.
• Trails can help address environmental injustices.

Even people who do not use trails can gain from their positive economic, environmental and public health benefits because trails generally improve the community in which they live.

Trails Connect People and Communities

Trails are a great leveling field in that a trail can typically be built almost anywhere and be used to connect people within the region. It is not unusual for new social groups to spring up as a trail is built or contemplated in a community, as people often look for ways to get involved and ways to invest their time and energy to improve the places they live and/or work.

Some examples of ways in which trails connect people include, but are not limited to:

• Trails create physical links between destinations.
• Trails act as a meeting place for social interactions.
• Trails foster community involvement by providing opportunities for people to volunteer and give back to the community.
• Trails can help build partnerships among entities like private companies, landowners, government agencies, nonprofit organizations, community residents, etc.
• Trails can cultivate a sense of community unity and pride.

Trails Increase Quality of Life

Trails and greenways are often cited by planners, government officials, and other entities as being an important factor in a region’s overall quality of life (QoL) (Lawson 2016 and Shafer, Lee, and Turner 2000). QoL is a function of biophysical, environmental, and social conditions. Key elements of QoL include:

• A consistent sense of safety.
• An opportunity for meaningful education.
• The opportunity to maintain or attain physical and mental health.
• An opportunity for personal wealth and employment.
• Good environmental quality.

Trails are Safe Spaces

Well-managed trails provide a safe and accessible space for people to recreate, connect with other residents, exercise, travel, and enjoy outdoor spaces. A 1998 Rails-to-Trails Conservancy (RTC) study found that trails and greenways can help reduce crime rates in an area through effective trail design, management, and trail patrols (both volunteer and professional) (Tracy and Morris 1998).

Trails Provide Educational Opportunities

Trails can also provide an important role in educating the public about the natural, historical, and cultural resources around them. A great example of a program that uses trails to provide educational opportunities is a program called Pedaling with a Purpose, which was established in Petoskey Public Schools in partnership with the Top of Michigan Trails Council. The Top of Michigan Trails Council works with schoolteachers to get students out on a nearby trail to help them become familiar with both the cultural and natural resources in the community. Students have an opportunity to either ride a bike or walk throughout the trail system and learn about the presence of natural assets like critical sand dunes, wetlands, lakes, rivers, and streams, and learn about local history through a direct, hands-on experience (Top of Michigan Trails n.d.).

Trails Honor and Celebrate Michigan’s Indigenous Heritage

As previously discussed in Chapter 1, Michigan owes much of its foundation as the nation’s leading trail state to the important role played by Native American tribes in developing its first land and water trails. The Michigan Heritage Trail program has invested significantly in helping to tell this story through various interpretive programs. Signage located throughout many of Michigan trails convey the important role that indigenous people played in our early trail development.

According to Dan Spegel, Heritage Trail Coordinator at the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR):

“Heritage trail interpretive signs share the natural and cultural heritage of the landscape and communities that the trail passes through. Anishnaabek stories are shared all along the trail as part of this effort.”

Found below are several examples of interpretive panels located along Michigan trails that contain stories of the rich history of the Anishnaabek. These panels help educate and promote the continuing recognition of these important contributions. Visitors to these trails can understand better the commitment and important role that trails played and continue to play in the lives of Michigan’s indigenous people.

Trails Advance Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Goals

Historically, the planning and development of where trails (and their associated benefits) are located has often been inequitably distributed across landscapes. Low-income neighborhoods, communities of color, disabled people, older adults, and people with limited English proficiency are examples of groups that have traditionally been underserved in relation to trails and parks (RTC n.d.). Trails can help promote diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) by providing a safe and welcoming setting for all and facilitating access for people who may not typically be able to access the outdoors. It is also important to note that while not every trail may be suited for all types of trail user groups, trail managers should still aim to provide diverse options for a variety of trail user experiences within a region.

DEI goals can be promoted and enhanced through continued investment in trails and trail-related programs that aim to increase accessibility and draw increasingly diverse sets of users to our trails. More resources should be invested in expanding diverse and equitable uses of trails and many trail managers should focus trail improvements on increasing diverse and equitable access to trails. Staging events, social media promotion, marketing, and education are all important tools that can be used to make more people feel comfortable and familiar on our trails.

Trails Improve Health

Participating in outdoor recreational activities is associated with mental health benefits like reduced stress, better sleep, reduced depression and anxiety, and increased prosocial behavior. The benefits of regular physical activity are well-documented and include benefits like increased fitness and cardiovascular function and reduced risk for several major diseases, including cancer, heart attack, stroke, and diabetes (World Health Organization 2024). Spending time in nature and natural spaces has also been found to be “cathartic, reinvigorating, and/or restorative” for people with serious illnesses (Harmon and Kyle 2020). Attaining good physical and mental health is also associated with strong social relationships and a positive self-image.

Trails Increase Community Wealth and Employment

Although this topic is covered more thoroughly in Chapter 10, there are well-documented positive economic benefits of trails, including:

• Trails create jobs through the trail planning and building process, as well as through maintenance and continued activity.
• Trails increase the value of nearby properties.
• Trails can reduce medical costs by encouraging exercise and good health.
• Trails provide alternative transportation options, which reduces fuel expenses and a community’s carbon footprint.
• Trails provide low- or no-cost recreational opportunities to the public.

Trails Enhance Environmental Quality

There are many environmental benefits of trails, including but not limited to (American Trails Staff 2013):

• Trails help preserve and protect green space, including sensitive habitats.
• Trails improve air and water quality by reducing harmful emissions and creating buffers from development.
• Trails provide important pathways for plant and animal migration.
• Trails can help us reduce dependency on oil and gas for transportation.
• Trails can allow humans to explore and interact with nature with minimal environmental impact.

As people begin to understand more clearly that human behavior has a direct impact on changing climate conditions, they should also understand that trails provide opportunities for people to minimize negative environmental impacts. A healthy natural environment is an important part of social sustainability in that it supports essential ecosystem services that help sustain our society.

Trails Transcend Political Boundaries

In a time of increasing political polarization, political boundaries can often foster a sense of isolation. However, trails can provide common ground for people and their elected officials to work together for the benefit of the community. Trails have proven to be a bipartisan “safe space” for unifying elected officials. Over the course of the last thirty years, the Michigan Legislature has worked in a consistently bipartisan fashion to both understand the benefits of trails and support trail legislation, as illustrated by the passage of legislation like the Michigan Trailways Act.

Trails and Environmental Injustice

One of the vexing problems facing people in communities throughout the country is the impact of environmental injustice, which has resulted in vulnerable communities bearing an inordinate amount of the costs of environmental liabilities (Center for Sustainable Systems 2024). The presence of industrial waste sites, industrial manufacturing facilities, hazardous waste landfills, and other similar facilities depresses community safety and pride and directly impacts public health and property values. Trails can provide an outlet to raise up the community and coalesce community members to fight back against the political forces that result in environmental injustices, since the presence of trails can help level the playing field for providing safe, healthy, and sustainable communities.

Case Studies

Korey Batey and His Neighborhood Volunteers

A great example of how trails can help improve life in a vulnerable community is the Alley Activation project undertaken by Korey Batey, a citizen in Downtown Detroit. Batey worked with area neighbors and local organizations to turn abandoned alleyways into a series of short trails. These trails provided opportunities for people to open their garages and develop small businesses for trail users to frequent. This small trail building project became a point of community pride as residents in this area were able to clean up the neighborhood and increase property values. The greatest impact of this effort was that it united the community and helped spur additional civic engagement (Draus et al 2022).

Great Lake-to-Lake Trail—Route One

It is important to look at some of the newer regional destination trails and what they have meant for social utility in Michigan. The Great Lake-to-Lake Trail, as has been mentioned previously, is a destination trail approximately 275 miles long that runs between South Haven and Port Huron. Connecting many of the communities within this region has provided direct opportunities for people living in urban, rural, suburban, and industrial communities to come together in a common safe venue (Michigan Trails Magazine n.d.). One can literally see the entire patchwork of Michigan’s social communities within this one trail and understand how a common asset can help to link the future of this part of the state.

Clinton River Trail

Another example of a destination trail connecting communities is the Clinton River Trail, a rail trail that extends across sixteen miles of Oakland County, connecting suburban, urban, and rural portions of Detroit’s northern suburbs (Clinton River Trail n.d.). The Clinton River Trail is an excellent example of a multimedia trail experience that links a land-based trail with nearby water resources.

Iron Belle Trail

Michigan’s state motto, found at the base of the great seal of the state, “Si quaeris peninsulam amoenam circumspice” (“if you seek a pleasant peninsula look about you”) is animated in the Iron Belle Trail (IBT). This two-pronged 2000-mile trail combines both a hiking and a biking route and runs from Belle Isle in Detroit to Ironwood in the western Upper Peninsula. The IBT was a vision of Michigan’s Governor Rick Snyder and is being built not only to help unite people throughout the state, but also to bring a sense of pride for Michiganders in celebrating our beautiful peninsular state.

Conclusion

Trails are “America’s new front porch” as they help provide a welcoming, open, and friendly environment for making human connections. Trails can raise up a community and engage community members in so many ways, and they also help promote DEI by providing a safe and welcoming environment for all.

References

American Trails Staff. July 21, 2013. “How Trails Benefit the Environment.” American Trails. Accessed January 17, 2025. https://www.americantrails.org/resources/how-trails-benefit-the-environment

—. February 1, 2024. “Why Trails Matter: Trails and Greenways Promote Health.” American Trails. Accessed August 5, 2024. https://www.americantrails.org/resources/why-trails-matter-trails-and-greenways-promote-walking

Center for Sustainable Systems. 2024. “Environmental Justice.” Ann Arbor: Center for Sustainable Systems, University of Michigan. Accessed January 17, 2025. https://css.umich.edu/sites/default/files/2024-10/Environmental%20Justice_CSS17-16.pdf

Clinton River Trail. n.d. “the Trail.” clintonrivertrail.org. Accessed August 5, 2024. https://www.clintonrivertrail.org/

Draus, Paul, Jacob Napieralski, Christopher Pannier, Kory Batey, Kim and Rhonda Theus, Charles Rivers, Patricia Billette, Daniel Goldfarb, Jacques Jones, Peyton Lynch, Amina Mikula, and Andrew Buendia. June 17, 2022. “Alley Activation as a Green Health Intervention: Lessons from a Detroit Partnership.” PowerPoint Presentation. Accessed August 4, 2024. https://www.malph.org/sites/default/files/401%20Draus.pdf

Harmon, Justin and Gerard Kyle. January 13, 2020. “Connecting to the trail: Natural spaces as places of healing.” Leisure Sciences. Accessed January 17, 2025. https://doi.org/10.1080/01490400.2020.1712282

Lawson, Megan. 2016. Measuring Trail Benefits: Quality of Life. Bozeman: Headwaters Economics. Accessed January 17, 2025. https://headwaterseconomics.org/wp-content/uploads/trails-library-quality-of-life-overview.pdf

Michigan Trails Magazine. n.d. “Great Lake to Lake Trail – Route 1.” Michigan Trails Magazine. Accessed August 5, 2024. https://mitrails.org/great-lake-to-lake-trail-route-1-west.php

Protect Michigan. July 7, 2020. “Michigan’s Trails Improve Our Health.” ProtectMI. Accessed August 5, 2024. https://protectmi.org/michigans-trails-improve-our-health/

Rails to Trails Conservancy. n.d. “Equitable and Inclusive Trails.” RTC.org. Accessed January 17, 2025. https://www.railstotrails.org/trail-building-toolbox/equitable-and-inclusive-trails/

Shafer, C. Scott, Bong Koo Lee, and Shawn Turner. March 10, 2000. “A tale of three greenway trails: user perceptions related to quality of life.” Landscape and Urban Planning 49: 163-178. Accessed January 17, 2025. https://faculty.washington.edu/kwolf/Archive/Classes/ESRM304_SocSci/304%20Soc%20Sci%20Lab%20Articles/Shafer_2000.pdf

Top of Michigan Trails. n.d. “Pedaling with a Purpose.” Top of Michigan Trails. Accessed August 5, 2024. https://www.trailscouncil.org/kids-biking-initiative/

Tracy, Tammy and Hugh Morris. January 1998. Rail Trails and Safe Communities: The Experience on 372 Trails. Washington, D.C.: Rails-to-Trails Conservancy. Accessed August 5, 2024. https://cdn2.assets-servd.host/material-civet/production/images/documents/Safe-Communities.pdf?dm=1620062724

World Health Organization. June 26, 2024. “Physical activity.” World Health Organization. Accessed August 5, 2024. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/physical-activity