Carbon County’s largest municipality wants to start the process to build a nearly 20-mile trail that would connect its rural residents to various points throughout the township, as well as Jim Thorpe.

Last week, a group approached the Carbon County Commissioners to explain their plans to create the trail through Penn Forest Township and ask for the county’s support.

Township Supervisor Patrick Holland, local businessman Talon Fogal and Township Vice Chairman Christian Bartulovich spoke about the proposed trail, which is in the process of gaining support.

The new trail would be a crushed gravel, multiuse trail that traverses between Penn Forest Township Park to Weiser State Park, Route 903 Commercial Corridor, Pine Point, Penn’s Peak and down the mountain into Jim Thorpe.

Holland said the idea behind the trail is to connect the residents of this very rural township.

He pointed out that Penn Forest Township is the largest municipality in Carbon County with about 10,000 residents. It is the fastest growing township in the county and has zero feet of sidewalks.

Right now, if someone needs to travel from point A to point B, they must either walk along busy Route 903 or drive.

Holland said the area has seen growth in families moving into the township and hopes that a trail would be able to help connect them to various points.

Multiuse trail

The trail would be constructed in a similar way to the D&L Trail, Holland said, and would be utilized for walkers, bikers, hikers and in the winter cross-country skiers.

The proposed route would include land that has already been cleared for utilities, as well as easements with residents that would allow a trail to traverse through their properties.

Fogal, who grew up in Bear Creek Lakes, said that this would help create yet another recreational opportunity for the area, citing the growing interest in constructing trails through various locations around the country.

“No matter where you go in the world, I’ve biked, hiked and done all sorts of trails and they all look like this,” Fogal said, adding that it is meant for families - moms pushing strollers, family bicycle rides, exercise for older adults and more.

He added that he always wondered why something like this was never introduced because growing up, he had to walk along Route 903 if he wanted to go somewhere on his own and doing that is dangerous.

“We want to connect all of the places that people want to go to around here via a trail,” Fogal said. “You can take a walk, run, bicycle.”

The trio pointed out that this is just the beginning of the plan and hopes that support will help move it forward.

The trail would be constructed in six sections using some existing trail in Weiser State Park and building on utility areas that are clear and viable options for crushed gravel to be installed.

Support needed

“One of the important things to keep in mind with this is that in doing a project like this, nothing can be done without the support of private landowners,” Fogal said. “That’s our biggest question. We don’t want to do eminent domain. We don’t want to run a trail through somebody’s backyard that doesn’t want it there. The goal here is to basically have conservations with people and talk about the benefits of having these trails. This increases property value. This is good for the people who live on it and around it.”

Fogal cited the pedestrian bridge that people rallied around in Jim Thorpe and how residents support areas near lakes such as Bear Creek Lake.

“The great thing about trails is that people rally around them,” he said, adding that he has seen first hand residents going out with chain saws to cut down fallen trees that block paths, clean up trash and help keep the area beautiful. “ That’s the cool part about all of this. It creates a community around the trail.”

As the men spoke, Bartulovich said that he received an email offering a letter of congressional support from U.S. Congresswoman Susan Wild.

Commissioner Rocky Ahner said that this is a good start and suggested the men speak with East Penn Township officials, who are working on adding a trail in their municipality.

“It might be a good idea to talk to them, what’s the procedures they went through,” he said.

Commissioner Wayne Nothstein didn’t hesitate, asking his fellow board to support this initiative by making a motion to write a letter of support from the county for this project. The motion passed unanimously.

Fogal thanked the board and pointed out that some projects take decades to complete and that Penn Forest Township is “in it for the long haul.”