the water to go and to stop, and it doesn’t come into our home. I understand, from a very personal experience … how important it is that we think really intentionally about the way in which we are designing and looking at the built environment around our waterways.” Cullen leads CDP’s domestic grantmaking programming, most often interacting with communi- ties in the immediate aftermath of disasters. Helping to bolster community-level organizations that can provide on-the-ground support where it’s most needed is at the core of CDP’s mission. “There’s a whole lot of really good and amazing stuff that happens at the community level, with mutual aid groups, with the community- based nonprofit organizations, and interfaith and ministerial alliances,” said Cullen. Cullen affirmed that the expe - rience community members have of enduring a disaster together often allows people from different sectors to see interconnected issues more clearly. Housing, mental health, health care, social wellness, community infrastruc- ture—a disaster often shows how various elements of community life are deeply intertwined. “None of these are separate,” she said. A reopened trail, for instance, isn’t just a functioning piece of infra- structure; it’s a sign of a return to normalcy. What Cullen hopes to see are more proactive conversations surrounding resilience. CDP has a preparedness fund and does work with communities ready to have these conversations before disasters happen. Her team is also talking to donors about the need to proactively work to help communities reduce vulnerabilities and risk.
trending toward projects that build resilience while also addressing relief efforts, trail advocates and managers see greenways as a tool to mitigate disasters like future flood events. “I think we need to emphasize greenways,” Nutter said. “They are green, they are soft, they are permeable. They let the water slow down and go down and be manageable.” In neighboring Swannanoa, environmental architect Megan McCreary said people are coming together and prioritizing common goals in a way she had not seen prior to the storm. “The things that divide us are just not rising to the surface,” said McCreary, a member of the Friends and Neighbors of Swannanoa (swannanoafans.org), which is part of the Swannanoa Grassroots Alliance. A world-class bike park was set to open on 40 acres in Swannanoa, and McCreary, along with Brad Spiegel, an urban, regional and watershed planner with Equinox, was working on linking a trail to it. The storm sent them back to the drawing board. When I spoke with McCreary and Spiegel, they were awaiting word about a Great Trails State Program grant they applied for to complete a feasibility study on a 6-mile segment of trail along the Swannanoa River that would tie in to the regional Fonta Flora State Trail (fontaflorastatetrail.com). They envision the project not only through a recreation lens but also through a defense one. “It would be totally designed to flood, designed in the floodplain,” Spiegel said. The momentum, he said, is not gone. “Yes, we got knocked down on our face, but we’re rising up, and we’re going to continue all this momentum with a greater focus on resilience.”
Toward a Resilient Future In March, when I spoke with Nutter and Alex Smith, president of Connect Buncombe, Smith was in his office at Equinox, an Asheville consulting, planning and design firm where he is a recreation and environmental planner. So was Steven Bingler, an architect and planner from New Orleans who was in town to present on the post- Hurricane Katrina recovery process. Among their key takeaways was the communitywide effort Bingler led—over 9,000 residents took part—to offer input that shaped the rebuild of New Orleans. Smith said the effort to rebuild after Helene will benefit from a similar grassroots approach. “We’ve been through trauma and through shock. We’ve been through deaths. This is reshaping our lives and our minds, and people are cooperating to an immense degree. It’s really inspiring,” said Nutter. At a time when grant funding in response to natural disasters is
Cory Matteson is a contributor to Rails to Trails magazine and the TrailBlog . He lives in Springfield, Missouri, where he specializes in communications and journalism.
PHOTO: Devastation along the route of the planned Swannanoa River Greenway in Asheville, North Carolina | Eric Oberg.
Rails to Trails MAGAZINE | SPRING/SUMMER 2025
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