Teaching Guide
The U.S. Department of Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) published a middle school teaching guide about the national trails titled “America’s Scenic and Historic Trails on Public Lands: The Intersection of Cultures, Heritage, and Outdoor Recreation.” This product provides teachers with three activities to trace historic trails and explore conflict and collaboration between emigrants and American Indians. It was also featured in the recent National Council for the Social Studies Newsletter No. 289 back-to-school edition.
Active Transportation Guidebook
The National Park Service collaborated with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) staff on the development of the “Active Transportation Guidebook: A Resource on Supporting Walking and Bicycling for National Parks and their Partners.”
This new resource aims to support parks, gateway communities, and partners who are interested in pursuing opportunities to enhance walking and bicycling to and within national parks. The guidebook provides key information, best practice examples, and numerous useful resources to help inspire and guide efforts that would allow visitors to experience their natural, cultural and historical places in new ways – through active transportation.
Active transportation, including cycling, walking and other forms of human-powered transportation, provides a broad range of benefits to parks and surrounding communities. The guidebook includes reference resources and solutions for superintendents, planners, transportation and facility managers and others on managing vehicle congestion, promoting resource preservation, and accommodating increased visitation by providing alternatives to driving. The Guidebook covers a number of topics from planning and developing infrastructure, such as pedestrian pathways and bike lanes, to evaluating and improving safety for active transportation modes, to offering activities and programs that provide park visitors the opportunity explore national parks by foot, bicycle, or other non-motorized means.
Through a collaborative effort, the Guidebook was developed by the NPS Conservation & Outdoor Recreation Division and the NPS Transportation Division, with technical support from the U.S. Department of Transportation. A variety of NPS staff and partners contributed expertise to the content of the guidebook.
Transportation Alternatives Report
FHWA also posted the FY 2017 Transportation Alternatives Annual Report. Each State and the District of Columbia submitted a report detailing their TA project applications and selections that will use FY 2016 and 2017 funds.
Unless otherwise indicated, all material in Pathways Across America is public domain. All views expressed herein are perspectives of individuals working on behalf of the National Trails System and do not necessarily represent the viewpoint of the Federal agencies.
