Pierce County’s Foothills Regional Trail is one of 54 trails newly designated as a national recreation trail. The announcement was made Thursday by Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and National Park Service Director Jonathan B. Jarvis.
The designations add almost 1,400 miles of trails to the National Trails System. Spanning 23 states, the land and water trails provide opportunities for communities to connect to the outdoors, Salazar said in a news release.
The Foothills Trail covers 15 miles from Puyallup to South Prairie and two miles in Buckley. When complete, the trail will cover more than 28 miles.
Also earning the designation was the Bennington Lake Trail System, just outside Walla Walla.
The 1,150 previously designated trails span more than 13,650 miles.
The national recreation trail program is jointly administered by the National Park Service and the U.S. Forest Service. You can learn more at the American Trails website, americantrails.org/ nationalrecreationtrails.
