SUN-C08: Lines in the Sand: Regional Trails as Climate Adaptation Infrastructure

Sunday, October 12, 2025

3:45 PM – 5:00 PM CT

1.25 PDH, LA CES/HSW

Speaker(s)

Mikey Goralnik, ASLA, AICP

Trail and Transportation Planner
Great Springs Project
Nans P. Voron

Senior Director
SCAPE
New York, New York
Jonah Susskind, ASLA

Director of Climate Strategy
SWA
Sausalito, California

Trails are attractive civic amenities that support healthy and joyful communities; regional trail networks are critical infrastructure systems that provide meaningful opportunities for landscape-led responses to the climate crisis. This panel showcases some of these responses, including mitigating wildfires, restoring and enhancing native habitats, and embracing landscape’s role in advancing large-scale, trail-centered mitigation and adaptation projects.

Learning Outcomes:

Evaluate opportunities for achieving climate adaptation outcomes, including hazard risk reduction, via landscape-led trail planning and adaptation projects in diverse geographies throughout the U.S.
Leverage regional trail projects to engage with deep-seated disparities, including in public health outcomes, access to outdoor environments, and climate-related environmental injustice, in urban, suburban, and rural contexts.
Develop multidisciplinary partnerships with active transportation professionals, the conservation community, nonprofit organizations, and private entities to anticipate and mitigate future climate impacts.
Articulate the unique contributions and impact potential of landscape professionals working on infrastructure projects, including trails and active transportation networks, at regional scales.