April Field Notes - Connecting, Learning, Sharing
Mike Smith | OSI Executive Director
Finding ways to provide trail development education as part of our efforts to support rural communities has always just made sense. We learned early on that purpose-built, sustainable trails can play a powerful role in activating a community and drawing people outdoors.
I would not have guessed, though, that hosting workshops in rural Maine communities over the years would lead to convening multiple cohorts of 40 to 50 people from across the globe during the last 6 months.
We just kicked off our 3rd and final spring edition of the Online Trail School with our partners at the International Mountain Bicycling Association. The experience of hosting these courses amidst a pandemic has been amazing.
When you talk with people from places like Denmark, Greece, and the Virgin Islands, not to mention every corner of our own continent and our home state of Maine, you realize how many people are working through the same types of challenges.
How do we bring more trails to life? How do we make gear accessible to everyone? How can we run successful programs that get people excited about outdoor sports? These questions have guided our focus and been the inspiration behind the topics and content we share here with you all.
It never ceases to motivate us when we see people coming together seeking solutions to the challenges they face. That’s why we’re hard at work preparing more new content and ideas to share through the OSI Community in the seasons ahead.
You can help us play a role in the process by telling us what you want to learn more about here. I also invite you to join our Spring Community Roundtable coming up next week. Details can be found below.
Connecting, sharing, and learning. These three ideas have allowed us to bring invaluable trail development knowledge to a much bigger audience than we’d ever imagined, helping hundreds of communities create more outdoor opportunity.
What would help create more opportunity in your community? Let us know and together we’ll find the path (or trail) forward.