According to the alliance's president, Mark Taylor, members of the organization brought the idea of connecting trails to the drawing board early last year.
“We’re not just about trails, but we are definitely about connecting people and communities and offering trail opportunities to get into nature to travel to place to place without having to get into a car or motorcycle,” Taylor said. “We also think that a lot of our parks, green spaces and natural areas would be better known if they were all connected.”
The trails are in the preliminary planning stage, but Taylor said he hopes to develop a concept plan by spring. He said the trails will be similar to Violet Crown Trail in Austin and will ideally connect to it one day.
"We hope to develop a concept plan that tells us which partners are going to be involved, identify which entities are willing to help acquire land easements and rights-of-way, who helps with funding for construction and securing grants for adding and leveraging construction money and actually be involved in maintenance of the trail once it is built,” Taylor said.
While the trail has not been outlined, San Marcos Greenbelt Alliance President Mark Taylor said the alliance has corridors in mind of where potential trails could be developed.[/caption]While Taylor said the organization's main goal is to get everyone outdoors, Todd Derkacz, an avid biker and head of the trails crew for the alliance, said there is a dividend that is paid by putting a trail through a natural area.
“People enjoy being on a green way...for the experience. That alone pays the dividends of protecting the very area that they have gone through,” Derkacz said. “The idea is to get to cool places but to also avoid places that are sensitive that you shouldn't be going to. So, we get to accommodate what nature has to offer but avoid those things that might be injured by our presence.”
So far, Taylor said that both Kyle and San Marcos have agreed to have a trail going through their cities, but he is still waiting on a response from Buda.
