Making the Case for Trails: Why Economic Impact Matters in Rural Communities
Why Rural Communities Struggle to Justify Trails and How to Change That
There have been countless city council meetings across the land where trails were supported in principle but stalled in practice.
Not because people opposed trails ... but because no one felt confident explaining their economic impact.
Trail leaders are often great at talking about quality of life, recreation, and community pride. Where things get uncomfortable is when the conversation turns to jobs, visitor spending, and long-term economic value.
That gap is not so much a failure of belief as a failure of language.
This article is about why trail conversations so often hit that wall in rural communities, what decision-makers are actually listening for, and why I wrote Making the Case for Trails, a practical guide designed to help trail leaders explain economic impact clearly and confidently.
Why Trails Are Easy to Support and Hard to Fund
Most people like trails. You do. I do.
That is rarely the issue.
Funding trails require explaining how they fit into the same economic framework as roads, utilities, housing, and workforce development. That is where many trail conversations slow down.
In rural communities, especially, every public dollar has to compete. Decision-makers are responsible for tradeoffs, not hype. When trail advocates cannot clearly explain the economic impact, trails often get pushed down the list, even when there is no active opposition.
This is the moment where many trail leaders feel stuck.
They believe in the work.
They just are not sure how to justify it in dollars.
Trails Are Not Just Recreation
One of the most common mistakes I see is framing trails only as recreation.
Recreation matters, but in civic conversations, it is often treated as optional. Trails, however, function as economic infrastructure in many rural communities.
They influence:
Why visitors come to town
How long they stay
Where they spend money
Whether events choose a location
How a community is perceived from the outside
Those impacts are real. They are just rarely measured or explained in ways that city councils recognize.
When trails are framed as part of the visitor economy rather than a lifestyle amenity, conversations change.
The Moment Trail Conversations Usually Stall
Many trail projects do not fail because someone says no.
Instead, they stall because trail leaders feel unsure when economic questions come up.
Questions like:
How many jobs does this actually create?
What is the economic return?
How do we know this works?
What happens if we invest and it falls flat?
Without a clear framework, those questions can feel intimidating. Some advocates soften their language. Others avoid numbers entirely. Over time, that uncertainty slows momentum more than opposition ever does.
This is the pattern I kept seeing.
Why I Wrote Making the Case for Trails
I wrote Making the Case for Trails because I kept hearing from capable, committed trail leaders who felt unprepared to justify their work in economic terms in rooms where it needed to be justified.
Not because the impact was not real, but because the language and framework were missing.
This ebook is not a report. It is not a manifesto. It is a practical guide designed to help trail organizations and rural communities explain trail impact clearly, honestly, and without overreach.
It walks through:
How trails contribute to rural economies
What decision-makers actually care about
How to measure impact without consultants
How to use events and early data as proof
How to talk about numbers with confidence
A real post-event survey used to measure economic impact
The goal is simple.
Help trail leaders walk into conversations better prepared.
If You’re Having These Conversations, This Book Is for You
If you have ever left a meeting wishing you had better language or clearer numbers, you are not alone.
Making the Case for Trails was written for that exact moment.
It is a resource you can read once and return to when conversations get uncomfortable. It is designed to support real work in real communities.
Get the Ebook
Making the Case for Trails: A Practical Guide to Economic Impact in Rural Communities
Available now as a digital download.
Sean Benesh
Sean is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Trail Builder Mag, a digital media instructor, and the Communications Director for the Northwest Trail Alliance in Portland, Oregon.
