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The Nature Conservancy (2021) Print
2021 AARP Community Challenge Grantee
Project Category
Transportation
└ Trails
└ Trails
The local chapter of the Nature Conservancy hoped to make the Manchester Cedar Swamp -- a popular nature preserve within Manchester's city limits -- more accessible to visitors of all ages and abilities. To do this, the group built the 1.2-mile All Persons Trail, which they designed to be level and unsloping. The trail is wide enough to accommodate two wheelchairs or two people with guide dogs. To help people with low vision navigate, project organizers created an audio tour app in English and Spanish. The Conservancy also installed benches and interpretive signs along the path.
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See More Projects Like This One
Poplar Bluff, MO
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2023
Project Category: Trails
Description: The project will add a connector trail for walking and biking, enabling residents to get to the Mark Twain National Forest.
East Hartford, CT
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2019
Project Category: Trails
Description: To improve its South Meadows Greenway trail network, Goodwin University created a wheelchair accessible picnic area. The University installed four picnic tables with seating in a location overlooking the Connecticut River. In collaboration with the East Hartford Senior Center, university officials then hosted trail walks with the goal of increasing healthy outdoor recreation for residents of the largely industrial City of East Hartford. Goodwin's campus is located on a former EPA-designated brownfield site, which the school cleaned up. Through its improvements to trails, the university hopes to improve livability in East Hartford.
Grand Rapids, MI
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2020
Project Category: Trails
Description: To encourage residents to walk and socialize, the North End Wellness Coalition installed seven benches along the North Quarter Pathways, an urban walking trail in Grand Rapids' Creston neighborhood. The ADA-compliant seating is designed to accommodate residents with limited mobility. To promote walking on the Pathways' five trail loops, the Coalition also founded an Active Living Team, which is working to plan community events and programming. Project organizers say working with City staff to install the benches laid the ground for other improvements throughout Grand Rapids, including upgrades to local parks and new scooter and bike racks.
Nearby AARP Community Challenge Projects
Manchester, NH
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2018
Project Category: Park enhancements
Description: Part of larger efforts to draw people to spend time in downtown Manchester, this project made placemaking improvements to Arms Park. Manchester Connects engaged a local company to design custom chairs for the space, which can gently rock. Additionally, they installed picnic tables, benches and a concrete cornhole set in the park. The park -- located on the banks of the Merrimack River -- is a historic place in the city's core. Organizers hope the new amenities help the park act as a third space -- a public place people can gather without having to spend money.
Goffstown, NH
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2019
Project Category: Improved wayfinding
Description: The five-and-a-half mile Goffstown Rail Trail connects the town's three commercial areas. To help trail users navigate, Friends of the Goffstown Rail Trail erected new signs with information about nearby businesses and facilities, as well as tidbits of Goffstown history. Since installation, business owners along the trail have reported more visitors in their shops. And as Goffstown plans for a future trail expansion, the signs have helped build community buy-in and attract donations to fund that project.
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