Description
The Partnership for the National Trails System proposes to provide the services detailed below for the National Trails System community of Federal trail managers and nonprofit organization staff and volunteers during Fiscal Years 2016 and 2017. These services provide information exchange and training to better enable these public and private partners to carry out their conservation mission of developing, preserving, interpreting, and sustaining the 30 National Scenic and Historic Trails authorized by Congress. Segments of these National Trails pass thru 70 National Wildlife Refuges allowing visitors to better experience and appreciate the conservation of plants and animals provided by these refuges. Funding from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and other Federal agencies will enable the Partnership to provide these services. 1) "PATHWAYS Across America" - $10,000 for 2016; $10,000 for 2017 The Partnershipâ¿¿s Communications Coordinator will continue to produce 4 quarterly issues of PATHWAYS Across America that will be mailed to about 2400 Federal and State agency staff and nonprofit trail organization leaders involved in sustaining the 30 national scenic and historic trails. The Winter issue each year will be expanded to 20 pages to include a year-end report of accomplishments for each trail. The PATHWAYS issues will all be posted on the Partnershipâ¿¿s website www.pnts.org. The Partnership's Outreach and Youth Programs Coordinator will continue to upgrade our website and keep it fresh with current news and activities. She also will continue to prepare a monthly E-News to be distributed electronically to more than 600 National Trails System leaders and staff, and will continue to manage several social media programs focused on engaging younger people with the national scenic and historic trails. 2) NATIONAL SCENIC AND HISTORIC TRAILS WORKSHOPS - $10,000 for 2016 During 2016 Partnership staff will work with staff and volunteers from the Oregon - California Trails Association to provide a Training Workshop for National Historic Trail leaders and Federal trail managers and with staff from the Florida and Pacific Crest Trails Associations to provide a Training Workshop for National Scenic Trail leaders and Federal trail managers. As in our previous conferences and workshops from 2009 on we will bring young â¿¿Trail Apprenticesâ¿ to participate in these workshops using funding provided by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and other Federal agencies. The â¿¿Trail Apprenticesâ¿ will be encouraged to give presentations about work they are doing to benefit trails. Workshop presentations will focus on ways to protect trail lands, to involve minority youth to increase the diversity of people using and helping to sustain the national trails, and programs to strengthen involvement of communities along the national trails; projects developing historic "retracement trails" in urban areas, and the latest developments in GIS technology for mapping trails and various other electronic means of interpreting trail resources and features. We will begin in Autumn of 2016 to plan for our 16th Conference on National Scenic and Historic Trails to be held in 2018 for trail organization leaders and Federal agency staff. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service will not be asked to sponsor this Conference but will be invited to participate in planning and attending it. 3) IMPLEMENT DECADE FOR NATIONAL TRAILS GOAL #1 -$2,500 for 2016; $6,700 for 2017; Partnership staff has begun preliminary planning with staff from The American Hiking Society, American Trails, the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy and Federal trail managers to prepare for the 50th Anniversary of the National Trails System in 2018. The planning will continue through 2016 and into 2017 with some activities, events, and programs beginning in 2017 and extending thru 2018. Much of the focus will be on increasing awareness and use of trails by all Americans with special emphasis on involving minority populations and community based activities. To that end Partnership staff will participate in the International Trails Symposium in May 2017 to help inform the various components of the American trails community about the significance of the 50th Anniversary and engage them in helping to increase resources to sustain the trails. 4) IMPLEMENT DECADE FOR NATIONAL TRAILS GOAL #2 - $3,500 for 2016; $8,200 for 2017; To continue implementing the protection of national trail lands and resources (Decade Goal 2) Partnership staff will continue to help staff from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service, and Bureau of Land Management and trail organization leaders prepare proposals of land acquisition projects to be included in the President's FY 2018 and 2019 Budgets. This work has been done in each of the past four years within the interagency Collaborative Landscape Planning initiative. This work has resulted in Congress appropriating from the Land & Water Conservation Fund $28 million for FY 2015 to acquire land along 12 national scenic and historic trails and $20.865 million for FY 2016 to acquire land along 8 of these trails including several projects within National Wildlife Refuges traversed by national scenic or historic trails. A number of the projects have been included in the President's FY 2017 Budget for funding by Congress. 5) IMPLEMENT DECADE FOR NATIONAL TRAILS GOAL #3 - $4,000 for 2016; $5,100 for 2017; To help Increase the Capacity of the Trail Organizations and Federal Agencies to Sustain the National Trails (Decade Goal 3) experienced people will brought to the National Scenic and Historic Trails Workshops to give presentations on successful fund raising techniques and practices and for developing effective boards of directors for nonprofit organizations, on effective ways to map, protect, and acquire trail lands, and how to engage young people, especially minorities, to participate in our national trails and trail organizations. The Partnership's Outreach and Youth Programs Coordinator will prepare a series of training webinars to be provided for trail organization leaders and staff and Federal trail managers beginning in the Autumn of 2016. Webinar topics will likely include best practices in trail land protection, effective fund raising for nonprofit organizations, training and management of volunteers, successful approaches to engaging and involving youth, and new Federal agency policies, such as the U.S. Forest Service Saw Use Policy. Nonprofit organization leaders, staff and Federal agency staff will be surveyed to determine which topics are most pertinent and helpful to them. Authorizing statues include Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act of 1934 (16 U.S.C. 2901-2911); Fish and Wildlife Act of 1956 (16 U.S.C. 742(a)-754); Refuge Recreation Act of 1962 (16 U.S.C. 460k-460k(4)); National Wildlife Refuge System Administration Act of 1966 (16 U.S.C. 668dd); Youth Conservation Corps Act of 1972 (16 U.S.C. 1701-1706); Archaeological Resources Protection Act of 1979 (16 U.S.C. 470aa-47011); The National Wildlife Refuge System Act of 1997 (Public Law 105-57); National Wildlife Refuge System Volunteer and Community Partnership Act of 2004 (Public Law 108-327); Federal Aid for Highways, HR 4348 (23 U.S.C. 201-204 and 206, Public Law 112-141).