Schedule

Pre-Conference Activities | Thursday, October 3

Join us before the conference kicks off for a workshop, outdoor time and a reception!

  • Pre-Conference casual bike ride: Join us on the iconic Wabash Trace Thursday Night Taco Ride. Your ticket fee of $10 covers the daily trail pass donation, a drink ticket, and appetizers.

  • The Iowa Bike Summit is also taking place this day. When you purchase your Trail Summit and Bike Summit tickets together, you will receive a discount on the Bike Summit!

Friday, October 4 | $85

Friday will include a variety of speakers, break out sessions and the keynote speaker.

Tentative itinerary

8 – 9 a.m. Check in and Posters and Exhibitors

9 – 9:15 a.m. Welcome

9:15 – 10:00 a.m. The Nature of Trails, Lora Friest, IEDA Tourism Liaison

Friest will challenge you to engage in each conference session with fresh eyes and open minds, to consider how you have and can shape the nature of your trail to maximize its impact on users, on your community and on the State of Iowa. Whether your trail is in the planning stage, extending to new horizons, or is in need of revitalization, Friest will encourage you to participate in conference sessions that help you see new possibilities and image your trail as a beautiful native vegetative corridor, an event space, an outdoor education venue, a connector and most importantly a unique destination that provides unforgettable experiences for residents and visitors.

10:00 – 10:15 a.m. Break

10:15 – 11 a.m. Expert Panels and Lightning Rounds

  • Breaking Free from the Grant Grind: Innovative Funding Strategies (10:15-11 a.m. )

    • Writing, submitting, and resubmitting the usual public grant applications can be soul sucking. Learn out of the box ways to leverage funding that can push your project across the finish line.

  • Rail-Trails as Ecological Corridors (Lightning round, 10:15-10:35 a.m.)

    • Rail-trails have a wide range of benefits to users as well as surrounding communities. But to what extent do rail-trails also benefit the larger web of living beings? Learn about key considerations for ecological corridors, including: width, connectivity, quality and landscape context.

  • FIRST AVE: It’s more than a trail (Lightning round, 10:40-11 a.m.)

    • Learn about the First Avenue Trail Project in Council Bluffs

11:00 – 11:15 a.m. Break

11:15 a.m.-12 p.m. Concurrent Expert Panels

  • Creating Trailblazing Events

    • Hosting or permitting an event along your trail is an opportunity to showcase your community. This experience provides many benefits, but requires a great deal of planning, promotion, and other considerations. Learn from our successful panel of experts on what it takes to bring the next big event to your trail.

  • Managing Multimodal Trail Networks

    • Trail networks offer visitors the ability to explore your area from many perspectives. Are they biking to the park to take a hike? Do you have mountain bikes riding next to equestrians? Maybe your multi-use trail becomes a snowmobile or cross country ski trail in the winter. Whatever it may be, it's vital to anticipate user conflicts and potential maintenance challenges. Our expert panel will answer your questions regarding best practices around these issues as well as how to promote all the ways to be active within your trail network.

12 – 1:30 p.m. Lunch and Poster Show

1:30 – 2:15 p.m. Expert Panels and Lightning Rounds

  • Managing Trails to Enhance Ecological Benefits (1:30-2:15)

    • How can trails support biodiversity in Iowa landscapes? What are practical steps you can take to benefit wildlife along your trail? This panel combines expertise from landscape architecture, forestry, ecology and land management to address these questions and more.

  • Surprising Insights: River Users Shape State Water Trails (Lightning round, 1:30-1:50 p.m.)

    • Iowans who paddle or aspire to shared their insights on what makes a successful recreational experience, shaping the development of the state’s water trail plan and influencing planning in other states. Their input might surprise you!

  • Building a Community Trail Program (Lightning round, 1:55 - 2:15 p.m.)

2:15 – 2:30 p.m. Break

2:30 – 3:15 p.m. Expert Panels and Lightning Rounds

  • Trail-Centered Placemaking (2:30-3:15 p.m.)

    • Continue the discussion on ways your town can embrace your trail to create not only the best experience for the visitor, but also the community. Our panel of experts have spent their careers watching what happens after the trail is completed. They've seen homeruns and missed opportunities for trail towns to build a sense of place and connection that benefits the quality of life of residents as well as the economic development derived from trail related tourists.

  • For the Longhaul: The Challenges and Rewards of Building Long Distance Trails ((Lightning round, 2:30 - 2:50 p.m.)

    • Learn about trails spanning multiple agencies and long distances with the LoHi Trek as a guide.

  • Wayfinding Signage for Your Trail: the Good , the Bad and the Ugly (Lightning round, 2:55 - 3:15 p.m.)

    • A visual presentation of signage and wayfinding best practices through regional examples and discussion.

3:15 – 3:30 p.m. Break

3:30 p.m. – 4:15 p.m. Closing Keynote with Robert Searns