The Wildlife for Everyone Foundation is creating a new hiking trail and accessibility is their biggest focus to ensure everyone can enjoy it.
Just off of Alternate Rt. 220, in between Port Matilda and Julian, sits 135 acres of land that will soon be transformed into a public trail.
Jerry Regan, President of Wildlife for Everyone Foundation, said it’s designed to attract nature enthusiasts of all ages.
“But also those who have physical challenges, It’s important to create opportunities for those groups to come out,” Regan said.
Rather than pave the dirt and smooth out the path, the Wildlife for Everyone Foundation plans to install a one-mile boardwalk.
The path won’t reach more than an 8% incline and it will lead to handicap fishing areas over looking Bald Eagle Creek.
“Whether it’s a parent who might have a child with MS, or our aging community, or someone in a wheelchair, to have that equal connection to something we love so much; and that’s the great outdoors,” Regan said.
So far the land has received a basic manicure, laying the foundation for the estimated $1-million project.
Regan said funding will rely heavily on grants, other foundations, and donations.
“I think at the end it’s going to be a beautiful partnership of public, private and community support,” Regan said.
There are also plans for a pavilion which will double as an education hub for wildlife.
Overall, the design is intended to cater to anyone itching to learn and explore.
Regan said Central PA is graced with natural beauty and no one should be limited in the great outdoors.
“We’re a foundation for everyone, from hunters to hikers to birders to artists, so it’s a way just to bring that connection for our wonderful rich heritage which we have in this state,” Regan said.
Construction for the boardwalk is expected to kick off in September.
And Regan hopes the project will be complete by the summer of 2018.