Your Impact

At Rails to Trails Conservancy, we are creating trail networks that connect people and places, bringing transformative benefits to communities all across the country. RTC has long championed transformative policy changes to drive mode shift by increasing funding for active transportation and creating accountability for progress on climate, equity and safety. For decades, RTC, its members and partners have advocated for investments in the infrastructure communities need to safely walk and bike where they live. Together, we’re sending a clear message to the nation’s decisionmakers and elected leaders: Americans want active transportation networks where they live.

At RTC, the goal is to ensure trails offer real, connected benefits to people’s lives. Transforming communities with trails offers something for everyone to enjoy, promoting active living and a connection to nature. Trails provide low-cost, high-value recreation opportunities, improving health and well-being. The outdoors is integral to our identity, enhancing life in towns through increased activity and economic benefits. Equitable development is key, ensuring that local residents benefit from the trails without the risk of displacement, by connecting communities and engaging people across neighborhoods. 

The Great American Rail-Trail® is the nation’s first cross-country multiuse trail, stretching more than 3,700 miles between Washington, D.C., and Washington State. This trail is an iconic piece of American infrastructure that will connect thousands of miles of rail-trails and other multiuse trails, serving tens of millions of people living along the route as well as those who visit the trail from around the country and the world. This is just one way that RTC is actively protecting valuable trails and corridors.

“The Great American Rail Trail is a gift to the nation.
It connects this country in a way that we really haven’t experienced before.”

-Ryan Chao, President, Rails to Trails Conservancy

At Rails to Trails Conservancy, we believe that every person deserves access to free, accessible and safe places in their own neighborhood where they can walk, bike and be active outside. We believe trails have the power to transform communities and create joyful, vibrant public spaces that are equitable and inclusive.

Institutional and structural injustices rooted in discriminatory policies and planning practices perpetuate inequities in our access to the outdoors, including access to quality trails. And for Black, Indigenous and People of Color, this exclusive infrastructure and exclusionary outdoor culture contributes to health and wellness, economic and mobility challenges that already overburden those most marginalized in our society.