Total visits to the Little Miami State Park last year were 760,000!
This figure is from our first-ever comprehensive count of trail visits. The last estimate, 200,000, done by OKI in 1998, was based on very limited manual count data and a shorter trail length.
The estimate for 2014 was calculated using electronic counters operating 24/7 for at least one month on each of the 22 "counting" sections of our 50-mile trail. The monthly counts were extrapolated to annual visits using data from the National Bike & Pedestrian Documentation project and with support from the Rails to Trails Conservancy.FLMSP will use the new estimate to encourage grantors and other organizations to invest more money into the maintenance of this trail. We'll help them understand what we trail users already know--that our trail is cherished by the individual users and by the communities the trail passes through, and is a valuable asset to our entire region.Our counting program will continue for the foreseeable future. If you'd like to help, please contact us through this website.Many thanks to Paul Morgan, FLMSP Board member, for ground-breaking research and development of the trail-counter program, which is now being used nationally by Rails to Trails.
Photo: Trail-counter volunteer Barb VanOrsdel holds counter equipment she camouflage-painted for better concealment in the woods adjacent to the trail
