The Natural State’s newest rail-trail venture—the Southwest Trail—could bring both national attention and important local benefits.

Rails-to-Trails Conservancy (RTC) and the national trail community put itself on the front lines to protect and defend trails in 2018. Here are five ways we mobilized in communities this year.

It’s officially the Year of the Trails in Ohio, and the Buckeye State is building significant momentum on trail projects, from Cleveland to Cincinnati and beyond.

Nestled into the gentle greens and golds of a vast prairie, rolling under leafy branches arched overhead like cathedral rooftops, and connecting small towns with friendly Midwestern charm, the Flint Hills Trail State Park proves there’s no place like Kansas.

An active and enthusiastic crowd of trail advocates gathered to kick off the state’s newly formed Legislative Trails Caucus.

Pete Raynor, central author of Railbanking legislation, was named 2018 Rail-Trail Champion. The 1983 Railbanking Act helped make many trails.

The LandLine Vision Plan—a newly proposed plan by the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) that aims to complete a 1,400-mile connected network of regional trails.

The P2P corridor heads east out of the Ohio River port city of Parkersburg, along the North Bend Rail Trail, through small, rural communities like Cairo, West Union and Salem. Seventy-eight percent of the 150-mile West Virginia section is already complete, with a few key gaps in Wood, Harrison and Marion counties.

The P2P: It’s a small acronym that holds a world of promise. Extending from Parkersburg to Pittsburgh (P2P), the developing 238.5-mile route connecting northern West Virginia and southwestern Pennsylvania by trail.

Northwest Indiana’s Erie Lackawanna Trail offers an experience of beautiful contrasts. The region boasts sandy dunes, a glimmering Great Lake and windswept prairies.