Celebrating the Past and Looking to the Future

​Though we couldn’t all gather as normal this year, the 2021 Virtual Annual Meeting was a successful event, recapping 2020 trail successes and highlighting future trail plans. Executive Director Angela Emery kicked off the presentation at noon on February 17th to 50 attendees from the volunteer board, community, and media. 

​Together with Board Chair, David Hough, Emery recapped an unforgettable year at the Platte River Trails. 

​“Despite the pandemic and the quarantine, 2020 was a productive year for our organization,” states Emery

The year featured an exponential increase in overall trail use, up 300% in March of 2020 over that same period in 2019. 2020 also featured PRTT’s biggest programmatic highlight, with the Art for the Trails program coming to fruition showcasing 12 temporary pieces of public art along the river trail from the Pumphouse to the historic oil derrick at Amoco Park.
 
Hough’s presentation focused on key projects in motion including an extension of the River Trail from Morad Park to the Mountain Plaza shopping with an eventual connection into the Wolf Creek neighborhood, vital reconstruction of some of the oldest sections of the River Trail, as well as one of the PRTT’s largest undertakings, the design and funding for a bridge that will connect Robertson Road and the 1400 residences in that area to Paradise Valley and the River Trail, the spine of Casper’s non-motorized transportation system.
 
Looking into the future, PRTT has long-range plans kicking off, including:

• Connecting the Casper Rail Trail to Edness Kimball Wilkins State Park
• Working with the Bureau of Land Management on the design for the Rimrock Recreation Area with hopes of an eventual connection from Robertson Road to this regional recreational gem.
• Moving forward with planning on a long-anticipated project, now called the Bryan Stock Trail Ponds, near the gravel pits owned by Knife River.
• Providing $100,000 in funding for two bumpouts for the new Poplar Street Bridge.
• Working hand in hand with the City of Casper and Casper MPO to improve walking and biking infrastructure in our community.

 
The meeting wrapped with board elections. Mandy Cepeda and Charlie Powell were elected as new board members. Kathy Blair, Bruce English, Chris Smith, Nat Steinhoff, JoAnn True and Keith Tyler we all re-elected for a 3-year term.
 
While we missed the opportunity to gather in person, the 2021 Virtual Annual Meeting was a wonderful celebration of past year’s successes and the board’s dedication to an exciting year ahead for the trails and our community.
 
Missed the meeting? You can view a recording of the meeting here.