Preface | TOC | Section 1 | Section 2 | Section 3 | Section 4 | Section 5
Appendix A | Appendix B | Appendix C | Appendix D | Appendix E
Appendix F | Appendix G | Tables | Illustrations | Trails Map

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Section One: Introduction

It is becoming more widely accepted by doctors and health officials alike that America's increasingly sedentary life style is having a detrimental effect on its citizens. With the provision of recreation or transportation oriented trails for walking, horseback riding, and bicycling, County residents as well as northcoast tourists will have increased opportunity to improve their general well-being through physical activity. Trails provide space for healthier movement and can give the average person extra strength, endurance, and coordination, not to mention improved appearance, posture, and mental outlook. The President's Council on Physical Fitness has pointed out that excercise can eliminate chronic tiredness, tension, minor body pains, and depression. Exercise gained in transportation or recreation trail use, as well an other means, can play an important role in the prevention and reversal of degenerative illnesses such as heart diseases, diabetes, and hypertension, especially when combined with a nutritional diet. In addition, exercise aids in controlling weight problems and maintaining health during old age. The basic enjoyment and benefits associated with trails use are being recognized by more and more people as evidenced by increasing participation in walking, jogging, bicycling, and horseback riding activities.

Although it is true that many county residents are engaged in logging and other outdoor employment which requires strenuous physical exertion, many of these same people may be fairly inactive during periods of seasonal unemployment. By the same token, many other County residents work at jobs requiring little if any physical labor. The establishment of trails and the promotion of their use can provide these workers, as well as County residents in general, with the opportunity to remedy basic trends toward physical inactivity In favor of better overall health. Walking, jogging, bicycling, and horseback riding should be encouraged and promoted on this basis.

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