Project Description

The Connecticut Trail Census is a statewide volunteer data collection program intended to inform a better understanding of multi-use trail use in the state of Connecticut and to make this important information available to trail user groups, administrators, government agencies and the general public. The program is being funded through a CT Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) Recreational Trails Grant.

Goals
• To understand who is using Connecticut's multi-use trails when, why and by what means. 
• To educate trail user groups, administrators, state and local government agencies, and the general public about trails and their impacts.
• To obtain multi-year information about trail use, user demographics, economic impacts, and trail amenities for identification of patterns and trends.
• To promote active citizen participation in monitoring and understanding the value of trails.
• To encourage sound trail building and maintenance programs based on collected data.

How It Works
Twelve trail sites in Connecticut will be selected to participate. Beginning in Fall 2016, applicant teams representing these twelve trails will work closely with the project team to collect information about trail users. Selected trail groups/organizations will:

• Participate in volunteer training for infrared counter setup and data retrieval and survey data collection.
• Install and maintain infrared counters (provided), conduct manual counts, and download data quarterly to determine how many and when people are using multi-use trails.
• Conduct intercept surveys (face to face interactions with trail users involving a list of predetermined questions) to understand demographics of trail users including age, gender, location of residence, economic impacts, and needed trail amenities.
• Communicate the results of this data collection to constituents and partners.

UConn's Center for Land Use Education Action and Research (CLEAR) will host the collected data online and develop tools to disseminate the information freely and openly through interactive maps, a data download portal or interactive data visualization tools.

Participating trails must be paved or stone dust multi-use trails. Trails will be prioritized based on: demonstrated ability to identify a community based project leader, demonstrated capacity and ability to identify 3-5 volunteers who will participate in training, ability to administer infrared counters, an ability to collect data in May/September on a designated schedule, connectivity to other trails and amenities, trail length, and an ability to demonstrate how data will be used and communicated. Please review the program application for more details.

Learn More
For more information please contact Aaron Budris at abudris@nvcogct.org or 203.489.0362.
The Connecticut Trail Census is being conducted in a partnership between the Connecticut Greenways Council, Naugatuck Valley Council of Governments (NVCOG), UConn College of Agriculture, Health and Natural Resources - Department of Extension and the Center for Land Use Education and Research (CLEAR), and is funded by a Recreational Trails Grant from the CT Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP).

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