About the HHC:
Trail Policy Issues

The HHC continually works to protect the rights of Hoosier hikers and trail runners. We can't do it alone, though. Your help is needed, and even just your comments can help! Click on any of the four trail policy issues below to find out how:

1. Single-Use Trails: On a footpath, the forest is your environment. On a multiple-use trail, the trail becomes your environment. Trail deterioration on multiple-use trails in Indiana and all over America has produced conditions that make many miles of trails unusable for hikers. Hardening with gravel to "armor" them against high-impact users makes multiple-use trails into horse highways. This has led the HHC to become an advocate for single-use trails, along with the American Hiking Society.
2. Hoosier National Forest: The HHC was organized in 1994 in part to help modify the HNF's multiple-use trail policy that made the large majority of its 200+ miles of trails into de facto horse trails. We are working to change that policy and influence other parts of the Forest Plan such as keeping out ORVs and preserving Roadless Areas.
3. 140-mile Knobstone Trail Linear Park: Fulfillment of the original 1970s plan to create a hiking trail on the Knobstone escarpment between Louisville and Indianapolis was one of the founding objectives of the HHC. The bottom third, known as the Knobstone Trail, was completed by the Indiana DNR in 1981. Working between 1997 and 2001 with the visionary manager of the Morgan-Monroe/Yellowwood State Forest, we have helped complete the northern third, called the Tecumseh Trail. We are dedicated to helping complete the central section, known as the Pioneer Trail, and to making the trail a landmark footpath as originally envisioned. We will also work to purchase (or preserve in conservation easements) surrounding forest land to complete a wildlife bridge between the existing forested acres of the north and south trail sections. One day the trail corridor could become an outstanding attraction as a linear park.
4. State DNR Trails: Responsibility for state trails in Indiana is diffuse; policies are determined by the Division of Forestry, State Parks & Reservoirs, and Outdoor Recreation. The HHC is an advocate for the adoption of responsible, sustainable management trail policies. Presently too many properties have allowed serious erosion and mud bogs to take over large sections of trail; most properties have insufficient budgets for maintenance. No new high-impact trail uses such as expanded horse or bike use should be planned without provision for upkeep. Also to prevent further deterioration, the present single-use trail policy must be retained