Wissahickon Friends Work On 'Sustainable Trails Initiative'

The Friends of the Wissahickon have launched a new program that will being even more trails to Roxborough-Manayunk area’s Wissahickon Valley Park.

The Sustainable Trails Initiative will help transform and create a total of 50 miles of new tails in the park that will be both environmentally and socially sustainable, according to the Friends.

From their website:

The trail system in Wissahickon Valley Park was not so much purposefully designed as allowed to evolve. Most of the existing trails are various vestiges of roads, game trails, utility paths, and tributaries from an era in which the park was populated by mills. Because of this, many of the trails suffer from poor design and alignment which can lead to erosion, a decline in the health of the forest ecosystem, and park user conflicts. These problems are exacerbated by the reduction in city funding for parks, ever-increasing use of the park by the public, and the proliferation of impervious surfaces in the watershed outside of park boundaries (roofs, streets, parking lots, etc.).

The Sustainable Trails Initiative (STI) seeks to address all of these problems. The basic physical solution to the problems is the rebuilding of the trails themselves including closing and reclaiming some trail corridors, building new trails in new corridors, and rebuilding some trails in their existing alignment. Related improvements include the creation of better trailhead signage, the creation of way finding signage along trails and at trail intersections, and eventual integration of the entire trail system into the city’s 911 emergency response system.

These solutions aim to be both physically and socially sustainable. A physically sustainable trail will, with little maintenance, withstand the vagaries of weather and intended use without degradation of itself or the surrounding forest. A socially sustainable trail will foster the uses for which the trail is intended without engendering or exacerbating conflict among users. All of this is achieved primarily through trail location and trail design. A properly located and constructed trail will shed water without causing erosion and through its physical features will induce desirable behavior while discouraging undesirable behavior.

Their is no specific timetable, but the project is already well underway.

Have shots of the trail construction in action, or want to share your best photos of the Wissahickon? Email justin.heinze@patch.com and your photo could be featured on Patch.

Image courtesy Friends of the Wissahickon.