Michigan Trails and Greenways Alliance fosters and facilitates the creation of an interconnected statewide system of trails and greenways for environmental/cultural preservation purposes. MTGA works at both the state and local levels by assisting public and private interest in trail and greenway planning, funding, development and maintenance. MTGA builds public support for trail and greenway development through events, membership, education, information and advocacy activities.There is tremendous growth of interest in and use of existing trails. Trails help connect people with nature, trails help children get to school safely, trails help more people get helpful exercise, trails bring families together and trails are good for our state’s economy.
Connecting Michigan is a year-long project spearheaded by the MTGA to address the critical issues which impede the state’s progress on developing a quality statewide interconnected system of trails and greenways.
During the course of this project, we have engaged all of our stakeholders: the Michigan Departments of Natural Resources, Transportation, Community Health, Travel Michigan, the Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness, the National Parks Service, Michigan Recreation and Park Association, many regional trail coalitions, regional planning and transportation organization, local governments elected officials and personnel, and individual trail advocates
Over 200 people attended the project kickoff on April 13, 2006 at the University of Michigan-Flint. They divided into twelve task forces to deliberate on the critical issue. The end result will be a vision and action plan for Michigan’s state trailway system with key steps to implement over the next few years, including identification of a timeline, proposed responsible parties and expected impact. MTGA has been named as key implementer in many instances for the work which lies ahead.
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