Missouri State Parks invites public comment on the future of the 144-mile Rock Island Trail corridor through Nov 30th
Missouri State Parks recently completed a series of three public meetings to accept public feedback about the future of the 144-mile Rock Island Trail corridor between Windsor and Beaufort, Missouri.
Through November 30th, 2018, State Parks is inviting the public to submit comments about the future of the corridor. We feel very strongly that these public comments will play a large part in determining the future of the corridor--and whether State Parks accepts the corridor for development as a future cross-state trai llink.
Please take a few minutes to leave a public comment in support of the Rock Island Trail.
- You can read the information State Parks presented at the public meetings here.
- You can leave a public comment in support of the Rock Island Trail here (through Nov 30th, 2018).
Your most important comments about the future of the Rock Island Trail
The most important things to say in your comments to State Parks:
- You strongly support the state accepting the corridor and developing it over time through partnerships as funding becomes available.
- Preserving the entire corridor whole and intact is the top immediate priority.
- State Parks is clearly the agency best able to accept and manage the corridor.
- Parks needn't fully develop the trail now, but should now do the minimum needed to accept the corridor and then build over time as funding from local partnerships, private partnerships, and grants becomes available.
- It is OK and desirable in the short term to develop and maintain the trail to a lower, and far less expensive, standard than the Katy Trail. We can work towards Katy Trail quality if and when funding becomes available.
State Parks proposals for the Rock Island Trail and your responses
State Parks has presented a very ambitious but also very expensive plan to develop the Rock Island corridor to Katy Trail standards. That is laudable as a long-term goal but simply infeasible in the present given budget constraints.
Unfortunately this "cadillac" plan could become a convenient excuse for State Parks to refuse the corridor, or sections of it, because the expense is so high.
We are strongly encouraging State Parks to adopt a feasible and economically viable plan for accepting and developing the trail, rather than putting forward an expensive "cadillac" plan and then refusing to accept the corridor because the cadillac plan doesn't look feasible.
Several of the suggested comments above are designed to help State Parks understand that the public is ready and willing to accept a reasonable, feasible plan for this section of the Rock Island corridor.
We would rather start with a basic, inexpensive trail and work towards higher quality in the future if possible, than lose the entire corridor because the ideal plan looks too expensive.
More information about the upcoming decision on this 144-mile section of Rock Island Trail
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