They are recreational waterways between specific locations containing access points and day use sites. They are launch ramps and overnight campsites. They are boats and paddles and cameras and field guides. Water trails are blue ribbons following the wayside sights and sounds of people and nature throughout the continent, with diverse users enjoying this network of liquid pathways from sea to shining sea and from tropic gulf to icy fjord. They are animated by the pursuits of their builders and their users.
Water trails connect people with places and simultaneously enrich and protect both.
By identifying and interpreting places, both natural and constructed, the water trail brings the user into contact with the whole ecology of the corridor. The interpretation and preservation of our cultural heritage is no less important than the protection and conservation of the earth, the sky, and the plants and animals with which they are intertwined. In the process, the user learns and grows physically, mentally and emotionally, while the community grows in spirit, in economic health and in vitality. Water trails are individualistic. Each water trail exists in a unique natural setting, is inhabited by unique wildlife and serves a unique human population.