Eco-Restoration Journey Week 8: What is an All Persons Trail?

Exploring a nature trail can inspire a lifetime of curiosity about the world around us. It can also provide a serene serving of relaxation, reflection and meditation. And sometimes, it’s just plain fun to get out to a beautiful spot and see what’s going on.

Making this life-affirming experience accessible to everyone is one of the goals of Harwich Conservation Trust’s (HCT) Hinckleys Pond –Herring River Headwaters Eco-Restoration Project.

That’s why a nearly one-mile All Persons Trail is currently under construction at the site, which is located at the corner of Headwaters Drive and Route 124, across from the Cape Cod Regional Technical High School.

Along the All Persons Trail at Harwich Conservation Trust’s Robert F. Smith Cold Brook Preserve in Harwich Port. Gerry Beetham photo

How All Persons Trails help the community

All Persons Trails follow guidelines created by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), said Travis Sumner, Co-founder and Principal of SumCo Eco-Contracting, the company that is working on the Hinckleys Pond Project.

These guidelines allow for wheelchair access on trails, with specifics surrounding pitch and slope of the surface, and sometimes including the addition of handrails and resting spots in some locations.

But All Persons Trails are “more inclusive for people who are using the trails,” said Sumner, allowing people of different abilities to enjoy a trail together.

The Massachusetts Office of Outdoor Recreation says that All Persons Trails provide “equitable access for seniors, people with various disabilities or mobility considerations, small children and their caregivers, people recovering from injury or illness, and people with chronic pain or joint problems.”

Construction of a nearly one-mile long All Persons Trail is underway at Harwich Conservation Trust’s Hinckleys Pond — Herring River Headwaters Preserve as part of an eco-restoration project. Harwich Conservation Trust photo

Who can benefit from an All Persons Trail?

The state estimates that up to 47 percent of Massachusetts residents can benefit from these kinds of accessible trails.

Unpaved Trails For All, a Massachusetts-based advocacy group, defines All Persons Trails as “multigenerational all-ability spaces that provide access to nature for everyone. They typically have a gentle grade, and firm, stable surfaces that allow for easier use of mobility devices. For folks with limited mobility, low vision, or blindness these trails are also easier to navigate because they have fewer barriers and inclusive wayfinding signage.”

For those who are interested in trying out an All Persons Trail, all it takes is a trip to HCT’s Robert F. Smith Cold Brook Preserve at 203 Bank Street in Harwich Port. A recently completed eco-restoration project at the site included the creation of a half-mile All Persons Trail that elegantly winds around one of four ponds in the beautiful Preserve, with splendid views of Cold Brook, now flowing freely through the area for the first time in over a century.

You’ll also find bird boxes with feathered tenants that might include sparrows and bluebirds along the trail, which has a permeable, stabilized stone dust surface that is accessible for wheelchairs, strollers and folks with different abilities. The trail has been a hit since the Preserve reopened this winter.

And HCT is looking forward to the All Persons Trail that will grace the Hinckleys Pond — Herring River Headwaters Preserve once the eco-restoration project is completed later this year. It will be twice as long as the Cold Brook trail and will provide another great opportunity to easily enjoy the beauty of nature. We can’t wait to see you out there!

Project refresher

The Hinckleys Pond – Herring River Headwaters Eco-Restoration Project includes the restoration of two retired cranberry bogs that bookend 174-acre Hinckleys Pond in Harwich, at the headwaters of the Herring River estuary and immediately downstream of river herring spawning habitat in Long Pond and Seymour Pond.

By the late 1990s, much larger off-Cape bogs were producing an extra supply of cranberries that caused the price to fall. This shift in the industry made it more difficult for some local growers to continue farming.

In 2021, thanks to generous donors, HCT was able to purchase the 31-acre retired bog area from the Jenkins family. If not preserved, the forested upland along Headwaters Drive and Rt. 124 could have been converted into a subdivision which would have impacted pond health and closed off the popular spot to the public.

The project also seeks to improve shoreline habitat of Hinckleys Pond, which is a herring spawning pond. The Brown family, who owns a retired bog on the other side of the pond, is also partnering with HCT on the project. The partnership eco-effort aims to increase biodiversity, restore freshwater wetland habitat and enhance recreational opportunities.

The eco-restoration project was funded by HCT donors, the Brown family, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Southeast New England Program (SNEP) Watershed grant, EPA National Estuary Program Coastal Watershed grant under cooperative agreement with Restore America’s Estuaries, Massachusetts Department of Conservation & Recreation MassTrails grant, foundation funds through the Association to Preserve Cape Cod, and a Transformational Habitat Restoration & Coastal Resilience grant through the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration.