Starting a local hiking/trail club

[AtomicLlama]

I live in an area of the country (eastern Nebraska) where there are not a lot of hiking trails, and what trails there are tend to be either short, contrived (a 7 mile trail that winds back and forth within a small area), or designed primarily for bicycles. It's a challenging area to create trails, since most land is privately owned and used for agricultural purposes. However, along the "west coast" of Iowa there is a region known as the Loess Hills. It's a fairly unique landform of steep hills (200-300 feet high) made of very fine silt created by glaciers. It is also largely privately owned and agricultural, although a lot of areas are too steep for farming. There are quite a few public areas scattered along the length of the hills (the hills are around 175 miles long in a generally north-south orientation). There are hiking trails in some of these public areas, but they form "islands" of trails with no connections between them. Everything is generally oriented toward short (say 1-5 mile) loop hikes. Even the somewhat larger Loess Hills State Forest consists of several disconnected trail systems.

I would like for there to be a local club to support and advocate for more hiking trails in the Loess Hills, maybe even with the goal of a long-distance trail running a significant part of the length of the hills. As far as I can tell, there are no active hiking clubs in eastern Nebraska or western Iowa. My current life situation wouldn't really allow me to start such a club right now, but it's something that I'm thinking about as a long-term goal. I'm wondering if anyone has experiences to share about starting such a club. Unfortunately I don't know many other hikers in the area, outdoor recreation around here tends to mean hunting, fishing and powerboats.

[Maui Rhino]

I was involved in starting a local mountain bike club to do trail work and to advocate for trails here on Maui (the Maui Mountain Bike Coalition). We chose to form as an IMBA chapter for a variety of reasons. First, the mission of IMBA was the same as ours. Second, IMBA had previously worked with the state DLNR, so the IMBA name carried a certain amount of respect, name recognition, and pull with State officials, as well as the local riding and trail community. Third, IMBA was able to assist and advise us on the details of organizing a club, such as writing bylaws, developing an organizational structure (board of directors, securing non-profit status, club insurance, etc.) and more. Finally, IMBA provided us support in the form of membership recruitment and benefits, teaching trail building skills and assisting us in working with the state of Hawaii to build a mountain bike park, which is free to the public, as well as improve and develop trails for hikers, equestrians, and other trail users. The State invested over $900,000 in our project, and we completed all this within 5yrs of founding our club.

So, my point to you is look around for a national or well-established local organization, whose aims may align with yours. It might benefit you greatly to partner with them as a chapter.... I'm thinking the Sierra Club may be one group, but I'm sure there are others as well.

[Tennessee Viking]

I would partner up with state and local park systems as well as land trust/conservancy groups. Outfitters and hunting groups are a good start as well.

[peakbagger]

Meetup is nice way of starting out. They supply the background technology and then you supply the content.

[AtomicLlama]

Cool, thanks for the ideas and info. Does anybody know anything about the American Hiking Society? Their web site makes it seem like they are involved with a lot of existing trail groups, they provide grants, etc. Seems like they might be a good organization to align with, but other than finding them on a web search I had never really heard of them before.

[Uncle Joe]

IMBA would be a good affiliation. They're trail building techniques for multi-use trails are the standard. I've served as an officer in various positions in an IMBA chapter. While I've had disappointments and issues with one of their regional affiliates which I won't go into here I still believe in their cause.

[AtomicLlama]

There is a local mountain biking organization that is associated with IMBA. I know they built some singletrack in city parks. I should probably talk to them. I never really thought about it since they're all about the bikes.

[ki0eh]

Meetup is nice way of starting out. They supply the background technology and then you supply the content.

I would recommend this, as it is not only a known clearinghouse for people searching for groups, but also has the surprisingly difficult-to-manage basic calendar functions nailed down.

Cool, thanks for the ideas and info. Does anybody know anything about the American Hiking Society? Their web site makes it seem like they are involved with a lot of existing trail groups, they provide grants, etc. Seems like they might be a good organization to align with, but other than finding them on a web search I had never really heard of them before.

I am a member of and support AHS for what they do in DC. To be honest they are not as robust an organization as IMBA has become. I suppose they could be contacted but would be surprised if they are able to supply much help in developing the club structure. I would recommend you contact them, perhaps not only because there could be a function I'm unaware of, but even if they don't they might see there is a need/opportunity for grassroots organizational development.

To put it bluntly, hikers tend toward introversion. As an example in PA there are over 5,000 members of the Facebook group "Hiking and Backpacking Pennsylvania" and I would not doubt there are over a thousand WB members in and around PA. Both numbers probably exceed the paid-up annual membership count of Keystone Trails Association http://www.kta-hike.org which is a needed group promoting advocacy in Harrisburg where the state, not the feds, own most of the hikable land.

Hikers might outnumber the hook-and-bullet crowd, but you'd never know it organizationally.

North Country Trail Association has, in order to create their longest of the National Scenic Trails, developed chapters from North Dakota to New York, in addition to affiliates where there were pre-existing groups (western NY, OH, MN's Arrowhead). That's at least one model of organizational development, so it could be possible they could share advice if not resources.

NCTA and its affiliate Finger Lakes Trail Conference might also be examples of developing hiking trails on private farmland. In a truly rural region, with at least some grassroots support in the same county, it is possible to create a long distance footpath without buying land or easements. I've personally, in some work in northern PA, profited by their example.

Hedgerows and stream corridors can harbor three-foot-wide footpaths, and someone local and personable (retired insurance agent, retired English teacher, etc.) could likely knock on doors (no substitute for the personal touch, with family landowners) to get permission from many, not all, folks.

Finding people who want to hike would likely be easier than finding a place for them to hike, but the first may very well lead to the second. Good luck to you!

[AtomicLlama]

Thanks for the information and advice, everybody!