Less Successful Example of a Narrative/Project Summary:
The State Forest Recreational Plan and Design Project is the Byway organization's effort to provide high-quality recreational opportunities to travelers on the Byway and to the visitors who return for a stay. The objective of the project is to provide a plan for a multi-use, all-season, recreational stop on the Byway. The Byway organization is proposing to make economical use of existing, under-utilized State Forest property - now used in clement seasons only and primarily for hiking - into a year-round, multi-sport destination.
The scenic byway corridor management organization will be working with the advice and guidance of the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) to plan and design the improvements, specifically with DCR Trails Coordinator. With a professional trail designer we will be working out routes among the existing trails, making linkages where necessary to provide a series of experiences for hikers and skiers and snow shoers on the varied terrain. We will plan and design the existing old roads as multi-purpose ways for horseback riders, off-road (non-motorized) cyclists, and pedestrians. We will need to plan for parking improvements that will accommodate horse trailers, for stream crossings where bridges are gone, for trail construction and improvement, and for trail signage.
Our Byway is known for its scenic qualities and rural character so that people drive it to see the river, the rugged woodland landscapes and rural town centers. For most travelers it is primarily a visual experience: they come to see the leaves in fall and the landscape vistas; but for others it is a summer travel or weekend stop for visits to museums and a few shops. To be sure, there are several annual events such as the white water canoe races each spring, a maple sugar fest, Old Home Days, theater season, and a dance festival in the summers. Travelers looking for recreation can make a challenging climb on a restored CCC trail for a beautiful regional view, and for travelers wishing less physical effort, we have created a wheelchair accessible loop trail in the Park. Bicyclists have a tour book and off-road maps to trails. Visitors in spring and summer, it is clear, have some choices for entertainment and recreation, but they are as yet fairly few in number and there is none for winter. This project aims to improve the recreational potential of the byway by preparing a plan for four-season recreation in the Forest to attract travelers on their way along the byway and attract them to return.
This example is less successful because it:
- Does not clearly establish the project’s relationship to the byway and its intrinsic qualities
- Does not describe the location of the project in relation to the byway
- Does not tie the project to the priorities identified in the byway’s corridor management plan
- Does not effectively establish the benefit of the project to the byway traveler versus the existing customer/user base of the Forest
