Trail connections in focus

BY JOSHUA BYERS

JBYERS@TRIBDEM.COM

PATTON – Stakeholders from across Cambria County met Friday at Cambria Heights High School near Patton for informal talks about potential trail developments in the area.

Over the past two years, Cambria Heights School District has developed a path called the Highlander Trail from Patton Park to the high school, with the goal of possibly extending it to Prince Gallitzin State Park nearly five miles away.

“My thought is, let’s get the ball rolling here,” Cambria County Commissioner Thomas Chernisky said. “No decisions, just an idea-sharing thing.”

Chernisky organized the meeting of about a dozen people, including:

• Northern Cambria Community Development Corp. Executive Director Matt Barczak;

• Prince Gallitzin State Park Manager Jessica Lavelua;

• Cambria County Conservation and Recreation Authority Executive Director Cliff Kitner and Assistant Executive Director Caytlin Lusk;

• and state Reps. Jim Rigby, R-Ferndale, and Dallas Kephart, R-Clearfield.

Much of the conversation focused on trail development from Carrolltown to Prince Gallitzin.

NCCDC is building a path between Carrolltown and Patton that will be called the Firefighters Memorial Trail, and the connection to Cambria Heights High School makes the possibility of getting to the state park easier.

“The whole goal is to connect these communities,” Kitner said.

“It’s about getting people off the road and getting people out in nature.”

He brought up the $19 billion economic impact of outdoor recreation in Pennsylvania and the mental health benefits of getting outdoors as among the reasons supporting further development.

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Kitner

Prince Gallitzin State Park Manager Jessica Lavelua points to a map during informal talks about future trail development Friday at Cambria Heights High School near Patton, above. Below, Cambria County Commissioner Thomas Chernisky (second from right) speaks at the meeting.

PHOTOS BY THOMAS SLUSSER/ THE TRIBUNE-DEMOCRAT

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Route options

Despite their ambitions, the group must overcome some hurdles to see the plan come to fruition, such as private citizen and municipal support.

A potential route could leave the high school, move east across Thomas Road and through private land to connect to Grozanick Road, then head northeast to Beaver Valley Road and to the park, but that would require at least two landowners’ permission, Barczak said.

Lavelua said it doesn’t matter how the connection happens from the park’s perspective – park officials could take it from there to join the trail with the roughly 30 miles of trails at the park.

Another option discussed by the group was the potential of passing through State Game Lands 108. But Zack Edwards, a Pennsylvania Game Commission sergeant, said that would likely not be possible.

Although hiking is permitted in state game lands by people wearing the proper 250 square inches of fluorescent orange material, Edwards said that state game lands are funded through hunting, fishing and trapping. A recreational trail would disturb those activities, and there may be related safety issues, he said.

That made use of municipal roads such as Grozanick Road, which mostly runs through Chest Township, more appealing to participants in the talks.

But Barczak said that would mean the municipalities need to be on board with the plan.

Chest Township Secretary-Treasurer Dianne Litzinger said the township is not opposed to the idea as far as she understands. Part of Grozanick Road and Thomas Road also lie within Clearfield Township, but a representative from that municipality could not attend Friday.

If the trail is completed along any route, the CCCRA would then assume maintenance responsibilities, as the authority is doing for NCCDC’s Firefighters Memorial Trail. NCCDC fronted the cost of engineering and building the path, but will turn it over to the county once completed.

Chernisky asked Rigby and Kephart if there were any grant dollars available to help make these discussions a reality. Kephart said the best route is through the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. Rigby added that there could be other funds available elsewhere.

Cambria Heights School Board First Vice President Jerry Brant, who helped establish the Ghost Town Trail, said that depending on the route, such as using roadways or single-track options, grant funding might not be necessary.

Maintenance costs

Other conversation topics Friday included trail maintenance costs. Rigby lauded the financial impact of tourism, but asked how much of that money can be used for maintenance, which is a growing topic among outdoor recreation developers.

Kitner said none of the grant dollars the authority has received until this point were for maintaining trails once built, and despite the significant economic impact of trails, the authority receives none of that money in return.

He and Chernisky told Rigby they’ve brought up the need for maintenance funds repeatedly with officials at every level throughout the past few years.

Chernisky said top-of-mind awareness is important in these situations and he believes the momentum is in their favor to have something done soon.

Rigby suggested a possible route could be through legislation, but said he’d have to investigate further.

One alternative could be registration fees on electric bikes, similar to boats, that are becoming more prominent on trails, Kitner said. Investing additional money from grants into interest-bearing accounts, to be used later for maintenance, may be another option, he said.

He also cited the new QR code signs at every trailhead of county-owned paths that allow users to donate to the authority for trail upkeep. The signs were an initiative of the Cambria Regional Chamber of Commerce’s John B. Gunter Leadership Program.

Kitner said the Ghost Town Trail, the 2020 Pennsylvania Trail of the Year, sees about 200,000 visitors a year. The Path of the Flood Trail, named the 2025 Pennsylvania Trail of the Year, has about 80,000 guests annually. If each of those people donated $1, the authority’s maintenance woes would be finished, Kitner said.

Moving forward, Chernisky said, the group should meet for another informal meeting in six months or so to continue the discussion and determine steps to proceed.

Joshua Byers is a reporter for The Tribune-Democrat. He can be reached at 814-5325054. Follow him on Twitter @Journo_Josh.