Happy trails goal of Parks and Rec’s Shaw
By BILL SCHWANKE of Missoula.com
“Happy Trails to You” was a song written years ago by Dale Evans and recorded by Evans and her husband, fellow cowboy movie star Roy Rogers.
It might be the theme song for Dave Shaw, who works in the Missoula Parks and Recreation Department as the Parks and Trails Design Development manager.
Born in Utah, Shaw took a somewhat circuitous route to his current position, spending time in Oregon and Arizona while also picking up a bachelor’s degree in horticulture from Utah State University and a master’s in landscape architecture from Washington State University.
It was his knowledge of both design and plants that helped him land his job at Missoula Parks and Rec.
What he found when he arrived in Missoula some two years ago was a “highly developed” nonmotorized transportation system with some gaps here and there.
He also landed in a community eager to expand and improve on that system, and that provides Shaw with an ongoing but welcome challenge.
“Our goal is to have a very seamless system,” Shaw explained, “so that it’s easy for people to get all the way from point A to point B without any hiccups.”
Perhaps most notable in Missoula is the Kim Williams Trail, Missoula’s main east-west commuter trail especially around the university.
The trail sits on the old Milwaukee Railroad bed that goes through the heart of the Garden City on the south side of the Clark Fork River. Shaw hopes to develop that trail even further.
The goal when any new trails are developed is to have them accessible to as many modes of nonmotorized transportation as possible: walkers, joggers, bikers, inline skaters, assisted mobility devices, you name it.
Missoula Parks and Trails Design Development Manager Dave Shaw looks over a proposed new trail for the area in his office in the Currents building near McCormick Park. BILL SCHWANKE/Missoula.com
Shaw said there are various types of trails under the umbrella of the Missoula system including commuter trails, typically paved and what he called the backbone of the system. Obviously more types of nonmotorized transportation can be accommodated on a paved trail than on a gravel one.
On the other hand, Shaw noted, gravel or natural surface trails often are preferred by walkers or joggers because they are easier on the feet and joints.
Missoula has about 23 miles of trails within the city limits. Add to that some 40-plus miles of earth-surface trails on city conservation lands such as Mount Sentinel, Mount Jumbo and the North Hills.
In addition people in the area have access to numerous nearby Forest Service Trails such as those in Pattee Canyon, the upper reaches of the Rattlesnake drainage and the Blue Mountain area.
When it comes to decisions about constructing new trails or adding to current ones Shaw said a lot of coordination is required among a lot of people and agencies. The Forest Service and the university often are involved along with neighborhood councils and the City Council, just to name a few.
“A lot of our trails are citizen-generated projects,” Shaw added, citing as an example a paved South Hills-area trail completed last summer that connects Wapikiya Park through neighborhoods and other parks to Reserve Street behind Wal-Mart.
That project was generated by the area’s neighborhood council. Another citizen group has been formed to push for a trail in the Grant Creek area.
Shaw also works heavily with Jackie Corday, manager of the city’s Open Space program. They review new subdivision plans to determine if there are trail opportunities available. If there are, Shaw and Corday will recommend size, layout, signage and connection points.
Shaw also works with public works and the Office of Planning and Grants, both of which often come to him with recommendations for trail possibilities within pending developments.
Another relatively new group in Missoula is the Bike-Walk Alliance for Missoula. BWAM actively voices its opinions to Shaw about where trail connections or new trails might be feasible.
Shaw also has to maintain communication with emergency services agencies in the area when trails are being designed.
“I want to make the trails so they’re accessible for emergency vehicles if necessary,” Shaw said. “I want to make them wide enough (and) strong enough so that they can hold those kind of vehicles.”
Another goal is to make trails as visible as possible to law enforcement so that people feel safe using them. Shaw said that’s a big concern for the people proposing the Grant Creek trail.
City police told Shaw to make the trail as visibly open as possible and put it as close to the road as possible without being too close.
In addition any gates installed on the trail system need to be wide enough to accommodate fire engines.
When Shaw discusses gaps in the trail system his focus naturally turns to the Bitterroot Branch Trail that runs north-south along a rail line. The gap is about two blocks long between North and Livingston avenues and exists because the city was not able to get easements from landowners when the trail was built.
Shaw said the Missoula Redevelopment Agency - which has worked with the affected landowners in the past - is working with him to see if there is a way to fill that gap.
While city funding for trails can vary from year to year based on other budget priorities that arise Shaw is pleased with the city’s commitment to its trail system.
He cited two especially helpful sources used to supplement whatever funds the city can provide.
One is the state’s Community Transportation Enhancement program. The Montana Department of Transportation sub-allocates federal funds through so-called leveraged grants to eligible local entities.
Through CTEP the city fronts about 16 percent of the funds necessary for a project.
“It’s a great way to make our city funds go a … long ways,” Shaw said, noting that CTEP funds went into the construction of the South Hills and the North Side Greenway trails.
Another state funding source is the Recreational Trails Program. It provides smaller grants in the neighborhood of $30,000 to $35,000.
Shaw would like to have more time to look at what other communities are doing. He said Boulder, Colo., has an outstanding system in place for its very active population. And Shaw thinks Missoula is holding its own.
“I think Missoula is kind of ahead of the pack,” Shaw said. “We’re right up there as far as our trail development and our system. It’s quite well put together.”
Shaw also thinks the majority of Missoula-area folks are pleased with the system already in place. But they expect “very high standards” and are passionate about being able to use nonmotorized transportation in town.
One indication of that passion is what happens when new trails are constructed.
“Every single project I’ve done so far, before the trail is completed people are on it,” Shaw said. “We just finished a little connector on the south end of the new (Madison Street) under bridge. The second we had the gravel laid down - even before asphalt was down - people were using that trail connection (to the university).”
Shaw said once asphalt is down the volume of trail use increases rapidly.
Shaw also expects trail development to be ongoing as the area continues to grow. Some of his future plans are tied to Missoula’s railroad history.
“(The Milwaukee Road) presents a phenomenal opportunity for trail development here in town,” Shaw pointed out.
The trail on the old railroad bed currently stops at Russell Street. Farther west, there already is a Reserve Street underpass for the old Milwaukee bed. Beyond that it turns to the northwest through the Big Flat area, continues through the Wye-Mullan area and goes all the way to the Idaho border and beyond.
“As Missoula continues to grow to the west that Milwaukee corridor is going to become the main east-west connection for that whole area,” Shaw predicted.
He added that OPG already has created a planning document that shows other potential trail corridors in that area. That will allow trails to be pieced together as further development occurs to the west.
To the south is the Bitterroot Branch Trail that goes from Lolo to Darby. Shaw said the goal there is to connect Missoula to Lolo.
“The over-arching goal is to have a well-connected trail system that will get folks from Missoula to every single major recreational area … around the area,” Shaw said.
“If you look at McCormick Park as sort of the hub of the nonmotorized network, you could have trials to the north that continue all the way up through the Rattlesnake Recreation Area (and) trails to the south and to the west that head over to the Blue Mountain Recreation Area.”
Shaw noted that the trail system in the Pattee Canyon area is already well established.
“It’s really … exciting to be here in Missoula and to see the passion that people have for recreation in general,” Shaw said. “Whatever form of recreation they’re doing it’s really neat to see how passionate people are about the outdoors and … this place.”
His goal? To keep building on that outdoor character as Missoula continues to grow and make recreation easy, affordable and accessible for everybody who wants to live here.
To listen to the entire interview with Dave Shaw, click here.
To see side one of the Missoula City Bike Map, click here.
To see side two of the Missoula City Bike Map, click here.
For information about trails in the Missoula area, click here.
