Have you ever felt the earth's energy humming beneath your feet as you tread along a secluded trail, the serenity of nature a balm to your bustling life? Julie Jenkins, trailblazer and co-founder of Just Trails, joins us to share that very magic. In a stirring conversation, we travel through her personal narrative, from outdoor gear fumbles to her pivotal role with the Appalachian Trail Conservancy. Julie's journey isn't just one of self-discovery, but also a testament to the power of trails in knitting together communities and sparking vital cultural dialogues. Her insights on the complexities of trail systems and their histories underscore the healing and creative forces of our natural world.
Venture further into the essence of community engagement with our discussion on the collective shaping of outdoor recreation. We shed light on the importance of public input, the necessity of equitable development of public spaces, and the irreplaceable value of volunteers. Julie and I celebrate the triumphs of collaborative efforts, like the open space initiatives in Buncombe County, and advocate for the listener's voice in future trail expansions. This episode is not just a narrative of achievement and growth, but also a call to action for all to contribute to the preservation and enhancement of our trails and parks, laying the groundwork for tomorrow's outdoor legacy.
Website: www.just-trails.org
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/judkins/
A Mosaic is a bunch of pieces, put together, to make up the whole in a beautiful way. Here at Mosaic Business Consulting we discuss the various pieces of a business throughout the course of its life, and throughout all industries, and how these pieces, when put together, can help develop a better, more efficient, and effective running of YOUR business.
Find our more or register for a course today: Mosaic Business Consulting
Be sure to visit BizRadio.US to discover hundreds more engaging conversations, local events and more.
Have you ever felt the earth's energy humming beneath your feet as you tread along a secluded trail, the serenity of nature a balm to your bustling life? Julie Jenkins, trailblazer and co-founder of Just Trails, joins us to share that very magic. In a stirring conversation, we travel through her personal narrative, from outdoor gear fumbles to her pivotal role with the Appalachian Trail Conservancy. Julie's journey isn't just one of self-discovery, but also a testament to the power of trails in knitting together communities and sparking vital cultural dialogues. Her insights on the complexities of trail systems and their histories underscore the healing and creative forces of our natural world.
Venture further into the essence of community engagement with our discussion on the collective shaping of outdoor recreation. We shed light on the importance of public input, the necessity of equitable development of public spaces, and the irreplaceable value of volunteers. Julie and I celebrate the triumphs of collaborative efforts, like the open space initiatives in Buncombe County, and advocate for the listener's voice in future trail expansions. This episode is not just a narrative of achievement and growth, but also a call to action for all to contribute to the preservation and enhancement of our trails and parks, laying the groundwork for tomorrow's outdoor legacy.
Website: www.just-trails.org
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/judkins/
A Mosaic is a bunch of pieces, put together, to make up the whole in a beautiful way. Here at Mosaic Business Consulting we discuss the various pieces of a business throughout the course of its life, and throughout all industries, and how these pieces, when put together, can help develop a better, more efficient, and effective running of YOUR business.
Find our more or register for a course today: Mosaic Business Consulting
Be sure to visit BizRadio.US to discover hundreds more engaging conversations, local events and more.
Morning. I'm your host, laura Wagner-Kanesh, owner and CEO of Mosaic Business Consulting, and you're listening to the Mosaic Life with Laura W. A mosaic is a bunch of pieces that, when put together, make up the whole in a really beautiful way, and this show plans to discuss the various pieces of a business throughout different industries and how these pieces, when put together, can help develop a better, more efficient and effective running of your business. To reach me, contact bizradious. Our guest today is going to be a bit unique and yet so much the same. It's really exciting.
Laura:Julie Jenkins I apologize, julie Jenkins is a consultant and co-founder of Just Trails, which is an organization focused on regenerating nature and communities through the connected power of trails. Fascinating, very, very different, so this is going to be interesting. She consults for trail communities around the world, supporting and growing outdoor economies through just transitions for rural and urban communities. An education and outreach director for the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, julie created award-winning education, youth and community programs. She is passionate about food systems, serving as board member of the Urban Agricultural NGO, supporting policies for community health and social justice. She has served as a Peace Corps volunteer in America and worked with vulnerable youth at Outward Bound. She has a BA from North Carolina State University and a Master's in Environmental Management through Duke's Nicholas School of Environment Clearly a very sharp person. So please welcome to the show, julie. Thank you.
Julie:Thanks, laura. Yeah, glad to be here.
Laura:Well, it's great to have you. I am kind of wondering. You know we think about. When we think about environment, the first thing that goes through my head is like climate change. And yet there are so many things to the environment, right, and I'm wondering what got you interested in working on this topic of environment to begin with.
Julie:Well, I think I've had some of my most pivotal moments and transformative moments when I'm in nature and when I'm walking, and even if it's in community and with, with, with friends or with colleagues, like big ideas or the little tiny decisions that get you there all are more creative and happen when I'm moving, and oftentimes moving outside. So, um, you know, from as early as my experience in college taking a backpack trip, um, and crying cause I couldn't figure out how to deal with all the gear, um, and wondering if I'm going to get to the top of the mountain.
Julie:And today, you know, sharing some similar experiences with my son. It's like the, the challenges that that create resilience within yourself, but then also like the joy of just kind of being disconnected from everything and coming together to think, think about things in a way that you, that you don't have time for in a day to day and day to day living.
Laura:So you know, and you, really you, you do, you bring that that whole concept. I'm just thinking. You know, my favorite part of the hiking when I go hiking is when you get to that place in the middle where you can't hear cars you can't, you could literally hear like a leaf falling right. Cars you can't. You could literally hear like a leaf falling right. You could hear, you can hear the whisper of a bug dry, you know flying by and and they're not near you, right, yeah, it's just such a beautiful space and it is, it's, it's like I love the fact that you can get there and then what you were saying about it gives you a place to think right, a place to not be connected to, to just breathe.
Julie:Yes, yeah, a lot of it is breath work. It's, it's um.
Laura:if you're on a run, you know you're, you're thinking hey, there ain't no running coming on from girl. I'm past that.
Julie:I like to do every once in a while to get the jitters out, or if I'm really stressed out, it feels really good to to head out on the greenway just out of my, out of my back door, you know, and and and breathe.
Julie:It can really, you know, set your nervous system in a better direction. So I think hiking, hiking does that, paddling does that a lot of the activities in the outdoors do that, and I also I really do love like systems and how things work. So being able to like think about, well, how did this trail get here and what's the? What's the history of this community and what's the landscape here? Who owns this? Who manages it? Those kinds of questions really excite me, and so I've been able to take the things that I love about being outside and being on walks and learning from our dark histories and the society and putting the two together. So that's what is really cool about the work and bringing people together outside is you can have some of the important building of culture together as a community to be able to talk about maybe some of the harder cultural aspects that have happened through history and through the years.
Laura:Yeah, yeah. And so, when you've been on this journey to start your own company, I'm wondering what prompted you to do that, versus just joining some other organization that works on trails and a particular trail maybe, or something along those lines. I mean, I understand your interest in systems, but what prompted you to start your own company?
Julie:Well, I.
Julie:So I was working with the Appalachian Trail Conservancy for, as you mentioned in my intro, like 20, a good 20 years and growing with the organization and had a true love of my colleagues and the work there and they fortunately introduced me to other organizations doing great work.
Julie:So I got to work with the partnership of the national trail system and understand, you know, this greater national trail system that we have across the United States, and then even working with the World Trails Network globally, so that I get to work with organizations that are developing trails for the first time just to support rural communities and as a development tool within those communities and bringing visitors to that country, to that country. And so I, I, I took a leap, I took a jump. I have my partner, is a consultant, and that was a big help and having somebody encourage me and say that you really have the knowledge and the wherewithal and that you're ready and you have a network of folks that you've been working with and and so, yeah, he really, he probably is a big driver and reason and why I had the kind of faith in myself to take that jump, in that leap.
Laura:And it's so funny, because don't we all need that support system, right? We all. We never do it on our own. This assumption that we can do this all on our own is such a joke, because we were getting help in other ways. Right, not necessarily on the business itself, but regardless. Right, that's right.
Julie:Yeah. Yeah, yeah, and and you know, and the people that you were working with, the people I was working with before, I still, I still see and work with and, you know, call friends and we, we help each other through questions of things that we're we're currently working on. So it's a it's like a growing network always and you're totally right that you can't do it by yourself.
Laura:Yeah, exactly it does take a village um as much as we like to be out on our own in the trail, right On the trail.
Julie:Yeah, yeah, and I mean I will say that the decision to instead of look at maybe working with the World Trails Network, which actually is just a volunteer tier network it was the it does give me the flexibility to kind of to grow in the consulting business and to to find more and more within my first year and a half like where the niches that really makes sense for me and where I'm aligned in terms of the kinds of strengths and skills that I can bring to unique communities, of strengths and skills that I can bring to unique communities. So I I really like that flexibility that it's given me to be able to continue my own learning journey and figure out what it is that I can offer for folks.
Laura:Yeah, Well, and you know, I think about a trail. I think you know so, somebody you know shoveled out some dirt, may, or laid a path of dirt or something so that there's a trail, maybe cut down some foliage so there's a path or something along those lines, right, and yet it's so much more. So what is all involved? Like just the big picture. When you talk about a system, I'm thinking to myself. You know there's a trail a path in the woods a path in the woods. Yeah, there you go.
Julie:Yeah, it's amazing to think about. So I mean, I'll use the Appalachian Trail as an example. There was, in the 20s, benton Mackay, who was the, who wrote an article about how the Appalachian mountains could have this greenway, this opportunity to connect communities and to get folks from the urban, industrialized areas out so that they have a better understanding of nature in order to protect it. But also it was just, he was a planner. But also it was just he was a planner, so he was a regional planner, and it was a means of like dispersing that urbanization.
Julie:So it's really fascinating to think that these volunteer groups latched onto it, as did, you know, some of our, the agency partners, and then they came together in a meeting in 1925 to say what do we need to do? And so they started, they started building it and within like 15 years there was this path in the woods. That was a connected path, but then it really took the act of lobbying and getting Congress to designate a National Trails Act that would, and that then followed with some acquisition money that allowed the agencies to be able to build and protect that and put it into public lands. The unique story of it is that volunteer piece, though, because the volunteers are the ones that continue to build and maintain and manage and still do today. It takes 6,000 volunteers. No-transcript.
Laura:You don't think about it, but I mean Maine to Florida, right.
Julie:Georgia, yeah. Maine to Georgia, yeah.
Laura:So that's a long, long, long way. And so when you say 6,000 volunteers, I'm thinking wow, that's a lot of folks, but not really not really. It is a lot of folks, don't get me wrong, but that's a lot. But well, and so this just trails that you've got going. What do you do at this company of yours that can help these trail systems to become better in different ways, and what are those ways that they become better?
Julie:Yeah, so I do a lot of community engagement. I feel very strong and a trail is only going to be sustained and maintained and thrive if it's locally invested in.
Julie:So to make sure that there's a full representation of folks that understand the benefit that the trails that they have within their community offer and then you know, on the other side of that, how that that community can support and and to continue to maybe expand or enhance and activate the trails that they have. So it's a mutually beneficial system of of health, environmental, social, you know benefits and well if you've got, yeah, go ahead.
Julie:I'm sorry. If you've got the community at the heart of it, then sorry, then it's, it's going to be more successful. So a lot of the work that I do is is in making sure that if folks are building outdoor recreation plans for their community, that they are bringing community members into the conversation, developing those action plans and visions and understanding what resources are available for them to do that. In a way, that's very much public participation focused, and also in working with some communities who might just want to be building their skills in certain areas and understanding how, you know, equity affects us all in the systems of within our, within the work that we do every day, and how we can kind of think about that with a lens.
Laura:Well, what you're talking about is a combination, it feels like, of networking to reach people and then bringing together people, acting as a liaison, if you will, between different groups of people to have the conversations that may or may not be taking place. Yeah, wow, okay, so that's a pretty big lift. That's a pretty big lift. Yeah, I mean there are a lot of. I mean I think about government meetings, town hall meetings, city council meetings, that kind of thing, and there are so many people involved in government, in different aspects of government, and then I think about trying to bring those people together with the, with the public, and and then also bringing those with, maybe, private entities that can help, either sponsor or maybe contribute to the, the trail system, and that's that's a lot of people to bring together.
Julie:It is it is, but I, I think of it as, I mean, as a it's a public asset, so we're all kind of responsible for, for its health. So I, I, I do think it's it's to have a big umbrella for, for that, for the work.
Laura:Mm. Yeah, yeah, if you could name one thing that the that could be done better, let's say, just in this area, just in the Buncombe County area, what would be that one thing that you'd want to have happen in this area?
Julie:Oh, wow, it is a big question.
Julie:I have to say I think Buncombe County and Asheville City have been doing a really good job.
Julie:We had a bond pass and Buncombe County last year that was like 30 something million dollars to help with space and open space and trails, and I think that the the transparency that they've been um able to provide for the community for some of that work has been really good.
Julie:I think that Asheville City is doing a great job and, you know, more and more trying to find ways to work with community neighborhoods and their communications department to have a whole engagement hub and making sure that they're getting as much information and out to the public and mechanisms for public to give them their thoughts. So you know, I have a lot of hopes and dreams about more, more pathways and bikeways within our, our community and but I also, you know, really value the volunteers that sit on committees and commissions and are doing the hard work to try to make those things possible for our community. So I would say the one thing would just be, if I had to put a call to action to anyone else, is to, you know, make sure that you're providing the input to those, to those committees and saying thank you to the volunteers that are doing a lot of the service for us.
Laura:Wow, great, yeah, so true. Like I, you don't think about all the volunteer work that goes into maintaining and keeping things alive, let alone the committee work that you're talking about. So that's really critical. I've got one last question for you is if people wanted to reach out to you to to learn more how they might be able to volunteer, how they might be able to work with your company or help have your company help other trail systems, how can they contact you?
Julie:Yeah, my website is just trailsorg. There's a hyphen in between Justin trails, so you can find me on my website. My email is juliejudkins at just hyphen, trailsorg.
Laura:Great, and I'd welcome a chat with anyone, or a walk, or a walk that sounds great. Well, I want to thank you so much, julie. It's been fantastic to have you on the show and I really appreciate you bringing all this to our attention. I love what you do. It's fantastic.
Julie:Thank you, thanks for the opportunity to chat about it. Appreciate it.
Laura:Well, and I want to thank you for listening to the mosaic life with Laura W. You can listen to this episode again and get this great content by listening to other great hosts and their shows by going to bizradious and click on shows. Thanks so much for listening and have a great rest of your day.