Carlyle Lake trail receives National Recreation Trails designation

Photo By George Stringham | All ages can enjoy the Carlyle Lake Multi-Purpose Trail. The trail was recently designated national recreation trails by the U.S. Department of the Interior for 2012. Carlyle’s trail will join eight other St. Louis District trails already on the national network of 1,150 designated trail. These trails continue to connect people with nature and the great outdoors as part of a healthier lifestyle, a core principle behind America’s Great Outdoors and Let’s Move Outside! initiatives.  

CARLYLE, IL, UNITED STATES

06.18.2012

Story by George Stringham 

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Louis District - MVS

ST. LOUIS – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced, June 18, that the Carlyle Lake Multi-Use Trail is one of five Corps recreation trails that have been designated national recreation trails by the U.S. Department of the Interior for 2012. Carlyle’s trail will join eight other St. Louis District trails already on the national network of 1,150 designated trails, encompassing more than 13,650 miles of existing trails and trail systems.

National recreation trail designation recognizes those trails that link communities to recreational opportunities on public lands and in local parks across the nation. The first national trails were established in the early 1970s.

The Carlyle Lake trail is a successful partnership between the city of Carlyle and the Corps. The 10.3-mile multi-use trail system connects the city of Carlyle to Carlyle Lake and passes through numerous recreation areas and diverse, scenic wildlife habitat ranging from lake, forest, agricultural fields, restored prairie and wetland areas. Visitors also pass along historical and interpretive points of interest including the Carlyle Lake Dam, the General Dean Suspension Bridge (listed on the National Register of Historic Places), and the Goshen Trail. The trail will receive a certificate of designation, a letter of congratulations from the Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar, and national recreation trail markers.

Eight trails at St. Louis District recreation areas have already received this designation and enjoyed daily by visitors.

Lake Shelbyville:
Camp Camfield Nature Trail

Kaskaskia River Navigation Project:
Kaskaskia River Confluence Trail

Rend Lake:
Rend Lake Bike Trail

Wappapello Lake:
Johnson Tract Trail
Lost Creek Trail
Memory Lane
Ozark Trail
Pine Ridge

These trails continue to connect people with nature and the great outdoors as part of a healthier lifestyle, a core principle behind President Obama’s “America’s Great Outdoors” and first lady Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move Outside!” initiatives. The national recreation trail program is jointly administered by the National Park Service and the USDA Forest Service in conjunction with a number of other federal and nonprofit partners, notably American Trails, which hosts the national recreation trails website at http://www.americantrails.org/nationalrecreationtrails

As the nation’s largest federal provider of outdoor and water-based recreation, USACE’s more than 420 lake and river projects in 43 states provide more than 7,300 miles of diverse land and water trail systems. USACE officials credit the support of local public and private organizations and the thousands of volunteers annually in helping to make these trails available for public use.

For more information on USACE land and water trails and the many other recreation opportunities available at USACE sites, please visit http://corpslakes.usace.army.mil/visitors/

The four other U.S. Army Corps of Engineers trails designated are:
Bartram Trail at J. Strom Thurmond Lake, Clarks Hill, S.C.

Veterans Trail at Coralville Lake, Iowa City, Iowa

Overmountain Victory Trail at W. Kerr Scott Reservoir, Wilkesboro, N.C.

Bennington Lake Trail System at Bennington Lake, Walla Walla, Wash.

• Date Taken: 06.18.2012
• Date Posted: 06.19.2012 13:16
• Story ID: 90247
• Location: CARLYLE, IL, US