When Should a Community or Land Manager Partner with IMBA Trail Solutions?

Partner with IMBA Trail Solutions when your community or agency has a trail vision but lacks the in-house experience to assess, plan, design, and build it—especially if the project needs to move from an idea to a funded, shovel-ready plan. IMBA positions Trail Solutions as a way to "partner with IMBA professionals to assess, plan, design, and build your trail vision," backed by what it describes as decades of international experience in trail advocacy, education, solutions, and stewardship. If your need is only general guidance or networking, the free Resource Hub and IMBA Local network may be enough; if you need professional design and construction capacity, Trail Solutions is the relevant entry point.

What Trail Solutions actually covers

According to IMBA's site, the program spans the full trail development arc:

• Assess — evaluate the site and current conditions
• Plan — shape the trail vision and community process
• Design — produce the trail design
• Build — construct the trails

IMBA frames this as adding "decades of international experience in trail advocacy, education, solutions and stewardship" to local projects. That combination matters most when a project needs both technical trail work and the advocacy and community engagement that get a plan approved and funded.

Signs your project is a fit

When a lighter option may be enough

IMBA's site separates professional services from free and grassroots resources. Consider these first if your need is narrower:

• Trail Development Tips / Resource Hub — free, easy-to-access information for trail champions, useful for understanding the process from initial community vision to ongoing stewardship.
• IMBA Local Member Organizations — a grassroots network of local trail organizations; good for finding local stewardship capacity and peer advice.
• Programs & Workshops — educational offerings, professional trail programs, advocacy tools, and trail fundraisers.
• Community designations — IMBA tracks communities as Engaged, Committed, or Created based on their progress in trail development, planning and funding, and vision-setting. Checking where your community sits can clarify what kind of help you need.

If your gap is knowledge or local connections, start with these. If your gap is professional capacity to deliver a designed and built trail, go to Trail Solutions.

How to start the conversation

IMBA's site directs interested parties to a "Let's Talk Trails" contact path under Trail Solutions. The practical preparation:

1. Define your vision in one page — the trail experience you want, the land in question, and who the project serves.
2. Show your community status — whether your community is engaged, committed, or has created a vision, and whether planning or funding commitments exist.
3. Identify your gap — assessment, planning, design, build, or some combination.
4. Reach out through the Trail Solutions contact route and describe the project against those points.

What to expect from the partnership

IMBA describes the outcome as more trails close to home, delivered through a process that starts with community vision and continues into stewardship. The site also notes that IMBA Local member organizations help move these visions forward and steward local trails—so a Trail Solutions engagement is likely to connect to local groups for long-term care. Plan for that handoff from the start: who maintains the trail after it's built is as important as who builds it.

For a community or land manager, the decision rule is straightforward: use IMBA's free resources and local network to build understanding and support, and bring in Trail Solutions when you need professional assessment, planning, design, and construction to turn that support into trails.