SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WGGB/WSHM) - Nearly half of Massachusetts residents would benefit from accessible hiking trails, but less than one percent actually exist.

Now, a new state report is outlining how to fix it.

Surface, grade, trail length and width can make or break how those with disabilities get around.

“Almost any other trail guide tells you nothing about actual trail surfaces. They just don’t,” said accessible hiking blogger Marjorie Turner Holman. “And so for anybody with mobility challenges, you can have all the descriptions that you want, that tells me nothing about the trail surface.”

Holman blogs in the eastern part of the state. Thirty years ago, a brain surgery saved her life but left one side of her body paralyzed.

She eventually regained the ability to walk and quickly learned how critical accessible trails and accurate information about them can be.

“What makes trails accessible is the education so that those of us with different challenges can make our own choices about what is accessible to us,” she said.

Seeing a lack of clear, accessible trail information, Holman started writing. Her “Easy Walks” blog now highlights short, accessible routes across the Bay State for people with mobility challenges.

At the state level, the Massachusetts Office of Outdoor Recreation is looking to close the gap. Its “Trails for All” report, released this past April, lays out a statewide plan to expand and maintain an accessible trail network.

The report states that while approximately 26 percent of adults live with a disability and up to 49 percent of residents would benefit from accessible trails, less than .5 percent of trails statewide are accessible.

Tom McCarthy is the director of the Universal Access Program for the Department of Conservation and Recreation. He worked closely with the state on the “Trails for All” report and says that a plan like this is needed now more than ever.

“That interaction with nature, being able to get away from, you know, the built environment, it changes people,” he said. “You are going to be happy, a happier, healthier person with a better outlook on life.”

The report highlights six priority areas for the next two to five years of action. First, it calls for a state-level advisory council to lead the work and coordinate planning across agencies. The state would do a full gap analysis to see where accessible trails are missing.

The report also focuses on cutting red tape and giving hikers clear, consistent information. It calls for streamlining, permitting, and contracting while still protecting the environment and adopting statewide standards for how accessible trails are designed and built.

Some of the biggest visible changes in the report are new trail head signs that spell out everything a hiker needs to know about a trail. The new signs will use a color rating system with green marking an easier, more accessible trail. Length, grade, and width will all be clearly marked so hikers can see quickly if a trail is right for them.

For Holman, that kind of clear, honest trail information isn’t just policy on paper, it’s the purpose behind everything she writes.

While none of these changes are immediate, the Department of Conservation and Recreation says it’s now focused on pushing for policy changes so bloggers like Holman won’t be the only accessibility advocates out there.

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