New hiking trail provides accessibility for people with limited mobility

A new wooden trail installed near Yager Stadium provides access to the hiking paths nearby for people with limited mobility.

Three Valley Conservation Trust (3VCT) has been hard at work planning and building a wooden, lifted trail for members of the community in wheelchairs, small children in strollers and others who need more accommodations next to the Helen S. Ruder running path.

The trail extends into the woods to a rest area with benches surrounding a tree.

The new pathway was built entirely by volunteers.

The idea for the path arose in 2016, when Miami was considering creating more parking for the stadium. 3VCT began to brainstorm ways to make this land more valuable, rather than turning it into parking.

Donna McCollum, one of the project managers and a member of the 3VCT board of trustees, was one of many people behind the creation of the accessibility trail.

"We thought that this would add something to the Oxford community that is found nowhere else that I know of," McCollum said.

In another attempt to make the property more valuable, 3VCT has spruced up the area and implemented some restoration processes. They have since cleared eight acres of honeysuckle and planted over 1,000 flower plugs and almost 600 trees and shrubs.

McCollum says that many university classes and student organizations have helped to work on the project.

"We are really trying to make this a real gem of conservation," McCollum said.

3VCT plans to provide a few parking spaces near the trail entrance and build more pathways that allow for even more accessibility. The next paths will extend deeper into the woods.

"Our goal is to get people into the woods, not to the edge of the woods," McCollum said.

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McCollum said Pi Kappa Phi provided $2,500 to the project after they received money from their national organization to fund an accessibility project.

John Hayes, a junior finance major and the Ability Experience chair from Pi Kappa Phi, said the organization contributed to the project last year.

3VCT is waiting on the rest of the money needed to fund the entire project before continuing to build more accessible paths. They estimate it will cost between $40,000 to $50,000.

toolemb@miamioh.edu