QUAKERTOWN, Pa. - At more than $28 billion a year, Pennsylvania ranks 5th in the nation in the economic impact from outdoor recreation.
The Bucks County borough of Quakertown is now using outdoor recreation in its urban planning. It's called Nature-Based Placemaking. It uses the outdoors to attract more people into the downtown.
A sunny spring day brought 30-year-old Becky Chernyk to the Upper Bucks Rail Trail in Quakertown.
"I liked it. It was nice. Lots of bikes out which is nice to see," she said.
Completed in November, its more than three miles are a big step for the borough. It's a step Richland Township Supervisor Tim Arnold says residents wouldn't have taken a decade ago.
"Trails were uncharted territory. People were concerned about strangers walking in their backyard or near their homes," he said.
As a press conference at the trail shows, a new attitude has gained ground, so much so that Quakertown is one of four pilot communities statewide to be part of nonprofit Pennsylvania Downtown Center's Nature-Based Placemaking 2.0.
"It's (outdoor assets) something that has always been here that we take for granted, why not take advantage of it?" said Executive Director Julie Fitzpatrick.
Fitzpatrick adds outdoor recreational assets like bike trails, hiking trails, lakes, rivers, etc., can be an economic engine for area downtowns by funneling those on nature's path into Main Street.
Her organization is steering Quakertown in that direction.
"Small communities still waiting for manufacturing or a corporation to come to town, but the potential for our small cottage industry is tremendous," she said of the lure of outdoor activities.
The goal now is having Quakertown extend the trail another two miles into the heart of downtown, as well as develop a plan to get the 1.2 million yearly visitors to Lake Nockamixon into the borough too.
