Nature activists want delay in approval of new south Columbia hiking, biking trails
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
More than 10 miles of new natural surface trails could be built in south Columbia if the City Council approves the plan on Monday.
The council will consider the $403,000 project at its Monday meeting. If approved, Columbia Parks and Recreation will work with Nomad Trails Development to build 10.5 miles of trails throughout the Gans Creek Recreation Area. The trails will accommodate both hikers and mountain bikers.
Some nature activists are calling for the city to delay a vote on the project to gather more information. Sutu Forte, president of It's Our Wild Nature, fears the development of the trails will disrupt the wildlife in the area, including a rookery of blue herons that live around Gans Creek. Fellow activist Christine Doerr, who has walked through the wild area of the park for several years, said she fears the area will go through further erosion with the development of trails.
The trail project has been in development for more than a year. The city council approved several projects for the park in December 2023, which included 7 miles of trails. The trail project grew to 10.5 miles, which Parks and Rec said will help attract mountain biking events.
Parks and Rec director Gabe Huffington also said the project will take on some environmental considerations. The city expanded a "buffer zone" around the rookery to stop any trails from going within 200 feet of it. The city will also plant new native plants around the trails and remove invasive species like honeysuckle.
Nate Smith, president of the CoMO Trails Association, said he supports the city building more natural surface trails. Those trails feature dirt paths rather than gravel or concrete and should require minimal tree clearing if any at all. Smith said the city has not built new natural surface trails since the 1990s at Cosmo Park.
"Once you leave the trailhead, you're out in the woods," Smith said. "You're not seeing a lot of manmade things, hopefully you're not hearing a lot of traffic, you're hopefully looking at nature. And I feel like that's what our group, that's what we like to do, just get people outside and in these different environments that you wouldn't encounter."
Forte, though, would rather see the land untouched. She advocates for wild spaces, or land untouched by development that's still open for people to see and experience.
"Let's have guided tours, quietly, like we've been going on, to examine what lives here, what the sounds are, the different seasons of the year," Forte said.
Forte wants to delay the council vote by several months to get more information on possible environmental impacts of the trail project, such as erosion. She previously protested the construction of a concrete paved trail near her group's land on Bluff Dale Drive in 2019 by camping in a tree set for removal.
A judge found her not guilty of trespassing after ordering her removal from the tree.