FORT SCOTT ? Over the past decade or so, groups within Allen, Bourbon and Crawford counties have labored to get folks outdoors.
Since then, all three counties have seen transcendent improvements, particularly for the hiking and biking communities.
In Allen County, teams of volunteers equipped with grant funding and other donations have toiled for the last several years to turn otherwise neglected rural areas into the Lehigh Portland and Southwind trail systems.
Bourbon County can boast of the Gunn Park Trails complex in Fort Scott, which offers cyclists and runners a picturesque route alongside the Marmaton River.
On top of its trails found at the site of former strip mines now dedicated to outdoor recreation, Crawford County also is a part of U.S. Bicycle Route 76, a cross-country route that stretches from near Pittsburg to the Colorado state line.
But as Iolan Randy Rasa notes, trail enthusiasts in all three counties see the potential for more.
To further that goal, the ABC Trails active transportation plan was unveiled Tuesday in Fort Scott.
With the support of county commissioners from Allen, Bourbon and Crawford ? thus, the A-B-C ? volunteers have begun exploring ways to better connect all three counties.
The venture is the first of its kind in the state, noted Elizabeth Burger of the Sunflower Foundation, whose $10,000 grant donation led to Tuesday?s get-together.
There, commissioners announced their appointees to the ABC Trails Committee, a 12-member body committed to seeing the endeavor come to fruition.
Allen Countians joining the committee include Rasa, the lead designer and builder of the Lehigh Portland Trails system, Thrive Allen County board member and long-time cycling and trails advocate; Jay Kretzmeier, manager of the Southwind Rail Trail extending from Iola to Humboldt and another long-time trail volunteer; Clayton Broyles, a leader in the Humboldt cycling community; and Allie Utley, a 16-year-old intern at Thrive Allen County.
They were introduced by Allen County Commission Chairman Jerry Daniels at Tuesday?s ceremony in the Bourbon County Courthouse.
Allen County Commissioner Jerry Daniels, second from right, is flanked by his fellow commissioners Bruce Symes, center, and Bill King, right, at a ceremony Tuesday to announce the launch of the ABC Trails Plan.
THE ABC Trails plan will consist of both short- and long-term goals.
