Ohio River Trail Council

National Park Service Rivers, Trails and Conservation Assistance Program

The Ohio River Trail Council (ORTC) has been selected for two awards from the National Park Service (NPS) Rivers, Trails, and Conservation Assistance (RTCA) Program.  RTCA often acts as a catalyst to help assemble the necessary pieces to achieve on-the-ground conservation success, helping identify resources, navigate the planning process, and convert ideas into actions.  The RTCA program staff often provides technical assistance in conceptual planning, organizational development, and capacity building.

The RTCA Program is the community assistance arm of the National Park Service. RTCA supports community-led natural resource conservation and outdoor recreation projects. The RTCA staff provides technical assistance to communities so they can conserve rivers, preserve open space, and develop trails and greenways.

The RTCA vision is a network of national, state and local parks, rivers, trails, greenways, and open spaces that links all Americans to the natural world and promotes quality of life.

The mission of the RTCA is to assist community-led natural resource conservation and outdoor recreation initiatives. RTCA staff provides guidance to communities so they can conserve waterways, preserve open space, and develop trails and greenways.

The Rivers, Trails, and Conservation Assistance Program:

• Provides staff assistance to community partners in every state to help create public parks, protected waterways, networks of trails, greenways and conserved open space.
• Extends the benefits of the National Park Service throughout the country.
• Connects communities to their land and water through conservation and outdoor recreation projects.
• Enhances community-based projects by connecting communities to their National Parks; engaging youth partners; and promoting healthy recreation.

The National Park Service preserves unimpaired the natural and cultural resources and values of the national park system for the enjoyment, education and inspiration of this and future generations. The Park Service cooperates with partners to extend the benefits of natural and cultural resource conservation and outdoor recreation throughout this country and the world.

The Ohio River Trail Council (ORTC) proposes the broad vision of a tri-state greenway system between Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. The ORT will serve to complete a key segment in a nationally-significant trail - The proposed Ohio River Trail will unite the “Great Ohio Lake-to-River Greenway” in Columbiana County, Ohio to the “Great Allegheny Passage” in Allegheny, County Pennsylvania forming a mega-trail from the great lakes region to our nation's capitol.

In the first year of assistance, RTCA helped coordinate the March 29, 2011 tri-state meeting of about 80 trail advocates, and the October 13 regional trails meeting hosted by the Power of 32, to support the vision of a linking system of trails.

In 2012, the NPS Rivers & Trails staff will focus on identifying an on-the-ground section of the Ohio River Land/Water Trail to develop, and continue the oversight for the Tri-State Trail Initiative, a multi-state effort which includes eighteen counties in three states.  Each year, on average, the National Park Service and their partners across the country create over 1,400 miles of trails, conserve more than 63,000 acres of open space, and protect more than 700 miles of rivers.