Urban Upland Trails Public Outreach - Project Overview
The Town of Camp Verde is working on the Urban Upland Trails Plan (UUTP), which is a proposal to create a comprehensive trail plan for the town. The purpose of the trail plan is to unite recreational and community pathways, including on federal and state lands, into a single network of delineated, maintained, and branded trails to promote public health, economic activity, and ecological tourism within the community. The project area includes the entire town of Camp Verde as well as extending into the two adjacent USFS lands of the Coconino National Forest (CNF) and Prescott National Forest (PNF) (See Figure 1-1). The UUTP will be a comprehensive plan that will document existing trails, proposed connections, and areas for new integration as identified by the community. In order to create a plan that is representative of the community, public engagement is essential.
On February 13th, 2020, the class participated in an initial kickoff meeting and field visit so students could explore the project area and meet representatives from the town and the CNF Red Rock Ranger District. The kickoff meeting and site visit was followed by a public meeting on February 27th, 2020 in Camp Verde so residents and stakeholders could provide insight on trail development in their community.
Together, ASU and Camp Verde created promotional materials, distributed information through different mediums across town, facilitated a public meeting, and compiled survey responses and public meeting feedback for further analysis. The information gathered culminated into the final report detailing the scope and process of the public outreach, the project and people involved, and the results and analysis.