Trails Visioning
Trails Visioning is a program that provides an opportunity for Iowa communities and trail groups to access professional landscape planning and design assistance. Through a series of planning meetings, a local volunteer committee works with a Trees Forever facilitator and a professional landscape designer to identify potential landscaping projects and to create images of what finished projects for their trail might look like. Similar volunteer Visioning committees across the state have been successful in completing community projects from this conceptual stage into fully implemented landscape plantings. This program is made possible by funding from the Federal Highway Administration and the Iowa Department of Transportation Living Roadway Trust Fund.
Types of Projects
Trail groups may consider these and other issues that can benefit from this planning program:
• Trailhead enhancements
• Protection/enhancement of natural areas adjacent to trail
• Natural resource and cultural interpretation
• Trail user safety and comfort
• Directional signage
• Visual appeal and aesthetics
• Stormwater management methods
What is Iowa’s Living Roadways Trails Visioning?
This planning process assists a trail group to assess a trail’s positive attributes and identify opportunities for improvement. Trees Forever staff facilitate this multi-meeting planning process and assist with the conceptual design of landscape improvements along the trail.
What kind of trail improvements can be considered?
Projects may include trailhead beautification, landscaping along the trail to enhance safety for trail users, or identifying opportunities for trail rest stops or interpretive kiosks.
How long of a segment of trail can be addressed?
Applicants can apply for one of two types of projects:
Option A: Trail length can range from one mile to 15 miles. For larger trail systems (i.e., greater than 15 miles), the proposed project can be a segment of the trail.
Option B: For trail systems greater than 15 miles, you may propose to focus on a specific aspect of the trail, such as trailheads, interpretive signage, or spurs from the trail into one or more communities.
For all applications, please include an aerial image of the trail section you wish to address and indicate where the areas of interest and/or concern are located. You may also submit photographs (no more than 6) of the areas identified on the map.
Who can apply?
A steering committee must be identified for the project. Any group who is invested in the condition and use of a trail can be the lead group for an application (i.e., Friends of the Trail, a Park Board, a local Trees Forever group). Preference will be given to steering committees that represent a rich crosssection of trail user groups.
What is the local commitment?
The local stakeholders must commit to participate in all the Trail Visioning meetings and to recruit others to participate when appropriate. The steering committee, or a subcommittee, is also expected to work with the Trees Forever facilitator to advertise meetings and major accomplishments in the process. Steering committee members are also asked to attend the annual meeting/program celebration held in Ames in the fall of the year.
When a trail is selected, what is the time commitment for the local Trails Visioning steering committee members?
The Trails Visioning process covers three phases of the planning process: assessment, design, and implementation planning. These phases are addressed in a series of meetings that take place over approximately six months.
What products does the steering committee receive at the end of the planning process?
The Trees Forever landscape designer will produce several display boards that will include concept plans and drawings of what the trail will look like if the projects are completed. The steering committee will receive copies of these display boards, along with a narrative report that will accompany them. The Trees Forever facilitator will also record minutes of the steering committee meetings and will provide these minutes to the group.
To apply, click the application below: