How You Can Help!

How You Can Help!

The Ohio River Trail (ORT) is a project spearheaded by the Ohio River Trail Council (ORTC), a non-profit volunteer-led corporation that is dedicated to bring individuals, organizations, communities, businesses, recreational users and all levels of government together to promote and protect a continuous corridor of natural and cultural resources along the Ohio River and its tributaries. The ORTC is serving as a unification tool by providing a resource and a forum for our local citizens, decision makers, and project managers to share knowledge in order to guarantee a bright future for our rivers, forests, and towns.

The ORTC is in support of a progressing state and national movement to develop greenways.

In 1987, President Reagan’s Commission on “American Outdoors” recommended establishing a national greenways network. Greenways are often accomplished and managed through partnerships between municipalities, counties, and non-profit organizations.

In 2001, Governor Tom Ridge established the Commonwealth’s statewide greenways program, entitled “Pennsylvania Greenways, An Action Plan for Creating Connections.” The vision is to create a network of trails throughout the Commonwealth, with a greenway in every community by 2020. Pennsylvania is creating an asset highly valued by Pennsylvanians and enhancing the quality of life for all. This network of greenways will connect Pennsylvania’s open space, natural landscape features, scenic, cultural, historic and recreational sites, and urban and rural communities. Greenways will become one of the Commonwealth’s most powerful tools to achieve sustainable growth and livable communities.

The ORTC is currently planning & developing a 41-mile multi-use land trail and a 56-mile water trail along the Ohio River and its tributaries, known respectively as the Ohio River Greenway Trail and the Ohio River Water Trail.