This year the Kansas Trails Council will celebrate its 30^th anniversary. Since its beginnings, KTC has dedicated itself to trail building, trail maintenance and trail-related environmental issues. The popular catch phrases among those, who build and promote new trails these days are trail advocacy and proper trail-building techniques. These are not new to the Kansas Trails Council. The Trails Council was organized in 1974 for the expressed purpose of trail advocacy. Over the next few years the organization gained the respect, trust and confidence of State Park and the Army Corps of Engineers officials for its dedication to proper layout and construction of trails to protect the ecosystem and guard against erosion. On numerous occasions, KTC board members, experienced in trail building have served as advisors to other groups and individuals in proper layout and construction of new trails. The board has always made it a point to have at least two board members involved in the advisory process.

As cases in point, I am including some of my personal experiences with KTC and trail building. In 1996 when I approached the Elk City State Park Manger, Randy Curtis about building a mountain bike trail at the State Park, he was receptive to the idea, but he would not allow me to proceed without first consulting with members of the Trails Council. Permission was granted only after members of the Trails Council had visited the proposed site for the trail and made their recommendations. Mr. Curtis’ trust and respect for the work and efforts of KTC were obvious to me from the beginning. Just recently, I found myself on the other side of the advisory process when board member, Jim Copeland and I made several visits to the trail and recreation project in progress just north of Parsons. This past spring, Jim and I visited the site again to help them lay out the multi use trail that will be a part of the recreation area.

While the Council has a long and rich tradition in trail advocacy and trail building, the board of directors is not content with relying on past achievements. We have some excellent board members, who are actively involved in the latest trends in trail advocacy and trail building. Some of them have recently attended and/or sponsored trail-building workshops. The board is currently making plans to sponsor a trail-building workshop of its own in the coming year. A brief history of the Trails Council is currently in production and it is intended to preserve the proud achievements and traditions of the organization. At the same time, the current board of directors is working hard to make the changes and transitions necessary to ensure that KTC will remain a vital force in Kansas for trail advocacy in the future.