Land Steward Lauren Palatini gives the new trail counter a thumbs-up

Trail counters were installed at several of the EcoPreserve’s main trailheads to count the number of visitors entering or exiting the EcoPreserve. The objective is gain a better idea of the amount and location of the EcoPreserve’s usage. The counters don’t take pictures, they just count people passing by.

So far the numbers are telling: for the months of October 2016 through January 2017, approximately 3,100 visitors entered or exited the Green Trailhead on Avenue E and over 2,200 at the River Road entrance.  To get the actual number of unique visits, divide by 2: that’s over 2,600 visitors at just two trailheads over the space of 4 months.

The counter at the main entrance kiosk (near the Avenue E roundabout; photo above) counted over 1,000 visitors during the three month period of December 2016 through February 2017.  Those warm days in February really got folks out in the woods for a stroll.