State and federal officials will meet Oct. 17 at Idaho's Harriman State Park to discuss the proposed Great Western Trail, which would run through the Mountain West, U.S. Forest Service officials say.
"The concept of a Great Western Trail envisions developing a trail system from Canada to Mexico," Wallace Shiverdecker, Forest Service Intermountain Region spokesman, said Saturday.The proposed trail would wind through Arizona, Utah, Wyoming and Idaho, and possibly through Montana, said Shiverdecker, "mostly on National Forest Service lands."
But portions of the trail would run through National Parks and Bureau of Land Management lands, on over some state and private holdings.
"The proposed route will follow mostly existing trails and roads," he said. "It will be a focal point for all types of trail users from backpackers to motorized vehicles - something for everyone."
The primary purpose of the one-day conference is to get more citizen groups involved in the project and to select a committee "to complete recommendations on the trail's final route," Shiverdecker said.