Event Info

Thursday, December 5
8:00 am-3:30 pm
Charles Mack Citizen Center
215 North Main Street | Mooresville, NC

Trail Forum is the Carolina Thread Trail’s annual day-long educational event that convenes over 250 industry professionals and citizen leaders with a common mission of advancing trails in our region and beyond.

This year is the 17th annual Trail Forum, which remains the largest recurring trail conference in the Carolinas. Attendees learn about current issues, foster peer-to-peer relationships, and collaborate on the opportunities and challenges of developing a trail network. Participants can choose from a diversified menu of educational sessions throughout the day.

Once again we plan to offer continuing education credits for members of AICP, NC Landscape Architects, National Park and Rec Association, and Professional Engineers (select sessions).

Lunch Keynote: Lisa Watts

At 58, Lisa Watts felt restless. She had built a carefully balanced life of work and play, but it all seemed to add up to a life of mediocrity. She and a dear friend headed out to bike from Key West to Canada, a trip she had dreamed of taking for many decades. Those two months on the road offered a time of transition, teaching her plenty of lessons but mostly that she doesn’t have to be an armchair traveler through life’s third act.

In her travel memoir Crossing Bridges: What Biking Up the East Coast Taught Me About Life After 60, Watts shares those lessons in a collection of engaging essays about friendship, marriage, ambition, self-doubt, and more. Her aim: to nudge others out the door to go do that thing they’ve always wanted to do.

Agenda

8:00 – 9:00      Check-in

8:30 – 9:00       Optional Networking in Lowrance Room

9:00 – 9:45      Welcome 

• Leslie Johnson, Chair of the Board, Carolina Thread Trail/Catawba Lands Conservancy
• Presenting Sponsor Remarks – Beth Poovey, PLA, ASLA, Principal, LandDesign
• Updates from Great Trails State Coalition (GTSC), Palmer McIntyre, Coordinator, GTSC
• Advancing Carolina Thread Trail in 2024 – Bret Baronak, Director, Carolina Thread Trail

9:45 – 10:00    Break

10:00 – 11:00 Concurrent Session #1

• Innovative Methods for Utilizing Data: Predicting Active Mobility Volumes Combining Network Analysis including AI-optimization and Creating a Comprehensive and Defensible Economic Impact Analysis  [PENC approved]
• Send It! Building Mecklenburg County’s First MTB Trails and Bicycle Parks Plan
• Planning for the Future of Trail Ecosystems

11:00 – 11:15  Break

11:15 – 12:15  Concurrent Session #2

• Navigating the Permitting Process – Conditional Letter of Map Revision (CLOMR): The Middle Fork Greenway at Tweetsie Railroad  [PENC approved]
• Creative Approaches to Bicycle and Pedestrian Provisions: Town of Mathews, Crestdale Heritage Multi-Use Path, Advisory Shoulder/On-Street Mural [PENC approved]
• Building Trails while Building the Next Generation – Conservation Corps 101

12:15 – 2:00    Lunch and Keynote – Lowrance Room

• Awards – Volunteer of the Year and Trail Champion of the Year
• Keynote: Crossing Bridges, A Trek of Transition  –  What Biking Up the East Coast Taught Me About Life After 60

2:00 – 2:15      Break

2:15 – 3:15      Concurrent Session #3

• Panel: Creeks, Trails and Community Stewart Creek Greenway and Stream Rehabilitation [PENC approved]
• Keep Gastonia Beautiful: Community Engagement through Citizen-based Science
• Trails to Equity: The East Greensboro Greenway Feasibility Study

3:15 – 3:30      Closing and Raffle

Download the full agenda here.

LandDesign
McAdams
Blue Ridge Trail Works, Inc.
Arborguard Tree Specialists
Areté
Bolton & Menk
Alta Planning + Design
Benesch
Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden
Dewberry
Kimley-Horn
Great Trails State Coalition
Permatrak
Pond
REI
South Carolina Trails

Sponsor

Become an event sponsor or exhibitor this year! As the premier annual trail conference across the Carolinas, Trail Forum puts your organization in front of 250+ of the key decision makers in planning, design, park and recreation, and local government. Attendees come from across North and South Carolina.

In addition to recognition, all sponsors receive exhibitor space in the main hall. Space is limited so reserve your spot today!

SPONSORSHIP PACKAGE

Please contact Alesia DiCosola for additional information.

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