2024 is only a few weeks away and we’re looking forward to kicking off the new year with all the exciting things it will hold! As we look forward to the new year, we want to take a moment to reflect everything that CORA has achieved in 2023, made possible by the incredible support from our members, volunteers, and the community.
First, are the trails. Our focus is on creating, maintaining, and improving great trails for everyone to use, whether you're biking, hiking, or running. Brand new trails are always exciting, and we’ve made great progress on several projects.
The Aylesboro Ave connector is a small but mighty trail that is different from what CORA has built in the past, and is exciting for a bunch of unique reasons. This trail helps to connect an entire community to the paved CROWN trail and is a great model for how natural-surface trails can be an ideal solution to increase access to outdoor recreation. We were beyond happy to work with the neighborhood to identify this need and provide a cheap and effective solution using our trail-building expertise.
Over the summer, we got the all-clear for multi-use trails at the Goltra Nature Preserve in East Westwood. Groundwork Ohio River Valley has been working at this site to cut honeysuckle, and as of early fall in 2023 we got to work digging trails. In addition to creating more trails near Mt. Airy, this system will provide an amazing connective network within East Westwood and an accessible space for residents to be active outdoors, whether they’re hiking, biking, or enjoying a storybook walk created by the local elementary school.
We also made big strides with the Nagel/Nighthawk Bike Skills Park project, which will sit between Nagel Middle School and Nagel Road Park. A coach and teacher at the school advocated for a program where kids would have bikes to use at the school, and we are thrilled to help provide a space that will augment that program. The bike skills park will also be accessible to the community and will provide a great place to build skills and confidence as a rider! The order has been placed and we are anticipating the arrival of the obstacles for phase one of this project early in 2024.
In the autumn of 2023, CORA organized a Sustainable Trail Design course taught by Mark Allen from ODNR. We had a great turnout of professionals from Northern Kentucky and Cincinnati come to learn about trails. This allowed us to share important information that will lead to greater advocacy for trails in our region. Poorly designed trails pose significant challenges such as erosion and soil displacement over time, rendering them nearly unusable. This course played a vital role in equipping participants with the knowledge to avoid these problems and create long-lasting, high-quality trails in the region, transforming them into exceptional outdoor recreation spaces for years to come.
In addition to the strides made in trail development, we had a handful of other exciting milestones this year. In March, we hosted the inaugural CORA Bike & Trail Expo, attracting thousands of outdoor enthusiasts from the region to engage with equipment companies, retailers, and outdoor adventure destinations. We were blown away by the turnout, and look forward to doing it again in 2024! Furthermore, we hired our first full-time staff member. Managing the many aspects of our initiatives is no small task, and with a dedicated team member overseeing the day-to-day, we are better poised to focus more on advancing projects and positioning CORA as a premier trail-building organization sets our region apart.
Thanks for your continued interest in CORA and the work that we do to bring more shared-use trails close to home! If you'd like to make a contribution to our work, you can do so here: Donate now.