The Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources is accepting nominations for the 2027 Trail of the Year through July 31.<\/p>\n
Pennsylvanians can submit nominations and supporting documentation<\/a> through the DCNR website at pa.gov<\/a>.<\/p>\n The commonwealth maintains more than 14,000 miles of trails that help to anchor Pennsylvania\u2019s $20.4 billion outdoor recreation economy.<\/p>\n \u201cThe competition to be Pennsylvania\u2019s 2027 Trail of the Year has officially begun, and we are hopeful to receive nominations from rural and urban communities alike for this important designation,\u201d DCNR Secretary Cindy Adams Dunn said. \u201cStewards of our trails can visit DCNR\u2019s website and make the case for being the top trail today.\u201d<\/p>\n The 20-member Pennsylvania Trails Advisory Committee will select the winner, which will be announced in early 2027.<\/p>\n The committee represents both motorized and non-motorized trail users and advises the state on using federal and state funding to develop a land and water trail network.<\/p>\n The winning trail management organization will receive a commemorative poster for statewide distribution, a trailhead marker and a grant for educational programs focused on safety and environmental protection. The annual award aims to build enthusiasm for the trail network and raise public awareness of its economic and recreational value.<\/p>\n The Pine Creek Rail Trail holds the 2026 designation<\/a>. The 62-mile trail connecting Lycoming and Tioga counties attracts more than 44,000 visitors annually and generates more than $5 million in local economic impact.<\/p>\n Pennsylvania\u2019s outdoor recreation industry supports approximately 177,000 jobs and generates $9.5 billion in wages, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.<\/p>\n The DCNR says that under Gov. Josh Shapiro with Legislature support, it has completed $228 million in infrastructure improvements across the state\u2019s 2.2 million acres of forestlands and 125 state parks since 2023.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are excited for this year\u2019s competition and look forward to seeing which trail prevails,\u201d Dunn said.<\/p>\n Past Pennsylvania Trail of the Year Awardees<\/p>\n 2025: Path of the Flood Trail<\/a><\/p>\n 2024: Trails at Jakes Rocks<\/a><\/p>\n 2023: Mount Jewett to Kinzua Bridge Trail<\/a><\/p>\n 2022: Delaware Canal State Park Towpath<\/a><\/p>\n 2021: D&H Rail Trail<\/a><\/p>\n 2020: Ghost Town Trail<\/a><\/p>\n 2019: Mid State Trail<\/a><\/p>\n 2018: Forbidden Drive<\/a><\/p>\n 2017: Montour Trail<\/a><\/p>\n 2016: Standing Stone Trail<\/a><\/p>\n 2015: Heritage Rail Trail York County<\/a><\/p>\n 2014: Redbank Valley Trails<\/a><\/p>\n more outdoors news<\/p>\n Read the original article on lehighvalleylive.com<\/a>. Add lehighvalleylive.com<\/a> as a Preferred Source by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources is accepting nominations for the 2027 Trail of the Year…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":231131,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[99985,8238,28,30,29,13415],"class_list":["post-231130","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-dcnr-secretary-cindy-adams-dunn","tag-outdoor-recreation","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news","tag-trail-network"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231130","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=231130"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231130\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/231131"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=231130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=231130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=231130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}