DURHAM'S TRAIL AND PATHWAY SYSTEM: AMENITY EXTRAORDINAIRE!
Durham today has an extraordinary system of walking and hiking trails and pathways, thanks to the foresight of our town to invest in and support conservation easements as well as land acquisition both by the town itself and by others. And much of the credit for these trails and pathways, especially in recent times, goes to the dedicated work of our town's Land Stewardship Subcommittee and the Town Conservation Commission, building on the early work of the Town Conservation Commission and its historic booklet on Durham's Class VI roads, "Walking Durham: Dedicated to the Fine Art of Foot Travel" (1975), and to the knowledge and dedication of Land Stewardship Coordinator Ellen Snyder and her team of volunteers, young and old.
These Durham trails and paths often offer outstanding opportunity for all aspects of nature study and nature photography in all seasons. And they certainly offer opportunities for physical exercise. So, in these ways, our trails and paths contribute significantly to both the mental well-being and the physical health of the community. But increasingly these same trails and paths offer something else which we less often think about. For increasingly they constitute a system of interconnectivity, including connectivity between neighborhoods, and therefore offer an additional route of transit beyond streets and sidewalks. And as we return more and more to a walking rather than a riding culture, a culture less demanding of fossil fuels, thinking about this kind of amenity value will rise in importance.