Rising Star report presents options for Worth trails

Earlier this spring, a group of three ISU student interns traveled to Worth County to assist a group that is working to build and promote a network of trails and routes for a variety of outdoor recreation in the county.
Rachel Findling, Emily Leerhoff and Samarth Vachhrajani, students in the Rising Star internship program, arrived in the spring and began meeting with members of the Top of Iowa Trail Committee to determine the ways in which the interns could aid the local committee.
Over the course of the summer they worked with members of the TOIT committee to strategize how the group's efforts could best be put into practice to meet their goals. They presented a report on their summer internship, including a plan of action for the TOIT committee, last Wednesday.
Early in their collaborative process, the interns and TOIT representatives began some of the community outreach groundwork for one of the TOIT committee's first trail proposals, spanning the shortest distancebetween Worth County communities with a path connecting Fertile and Hanlontown.

The meetings drummed up support and representatives of those communities have since become parts of the TOIT committee.
In the meantime the interns met with the full TOIT committee and saw an additional opportunity to make safer and publicize the routes that those riding bikes in the county already use.
As the most attainable goal, the interns' report first focused on action to be taken for existing routes.
The process involved first clearly identifying routes, working with the Worth County engineer, finding funding, making signage and safety improvements and advertising and marketing those routes.
Next in the report was a recommended course of action to build new trails.
The first step in the new trail process was to establish an overall plan and order for the trails that connect Worth's towns.
The report included a recommended order for the development of trails between towns.
First is the Hanlontown-Fertile connection. With the progress made already, interest from the communities and the shortest distance, the reported recommended this continue as a focus of the first project for the TOIT committee.
Options for a second and/or third connection were for trails between Kensett and Manly or Northwood, at 5 or 6.5 miles respectively, as the next shortest distances between Worth towns.
The next recommendation was for a path between Grafton and Kensett, 9.1 miles, which would allow people riding from Grafton a further connection to Manly or Northwood.
The path between Hanlontown and Joice, 9.2 miles, would connect those two towns, as well as bringing in Fertile to the trail in the eastern section of the county.
Connecting Joice to Northwood, roughly 18 miles apart, would accomplish a goal of a trail system that would connect all the communities in Worth County, along with several scenic areas nearby and in between.
This section of the report noted one of the bigger challenges for the group, building a trail that crosses the interstate. Recommendations included new footbridges or using existing bridges to cross.
The final route in the report would close a loop around the county, and connect Manly and Hanlontown.
In the report, the interns noted the routes and their order were suggestions, and factors like funding, community interest, land availability and others may influence how any trail project unfolds.
That said, it was recommended that the TOIT set a plan for the overall project, and tackle one route at a time, with a course of action for each section laid out as well.
Besides planning the actual path for each section of trail, the interns recommended that additional elements should be considered, such as beautification accents, as these may assist and influence funding availability. The next step would be to find that funding, as it was noted that professional assistance would be needed to plan these projects, in addition to the actual construction.
Then, land, supply and material acquisition would take place as the project begins and the TOIT committee moves on to their next project.
The report also suggested follow up actions to the building of the routes and ways to continually promote TOIT efforts as progress continues, ranging from group rides and walks, festivals and other events, along with a variety of promotion options.
Besides a recommended course of action and steps to undertake, the interns also researched a variety of resources for different aspects of trail projects, as well as a number of potential funding sources, which were also presented to the TOIT trail committee.
In concluding their report, the Rising Star interns wrote, "We hope for the best and wish success to the Top of Iowa Trail group."