Comstock's magazine 0919 - September 2019 | Page 85

special supplement
Swimmers wait for the start of the
Folsom Triathlon on July 14, at the
American River.
W
hen the City of Folsom hired
Jim Konopka away from Cal-
trans in 1997 for the new po-
sition of senior trails planner, designated
pedestrian and biking trails within the city
limits were scarce.
“There really wasn’t much there,”
Konopka says of those early days on the job.
“We had maybe 2 or 3 miles.”
By the time Konopka, 55, retired in De-
cember 2018, he had left quite a legacy.
With his hire, Folsom officials committed to
improving its trail system, cooperating with
other state and local planners and utilizing a
dedicated core of volunteers.
Today, the number of trail miles is 53,
taking users through Folsom’s open space
corridors near creeks and streams, green-
belts, wooded areas and wildlife habitats,
allowing easy access to an abundance of
recreational options.
The trail system details how Folsom,
with a population of approximately 79,000
(there were around 40,000 residents in
1997), has leveraged its outdoor opportu-
nities to give the city an advantage in at-
tracting new residents and businesses to
the area, says Mary Ann McAlea, Folsom
Chamber senior vice president.
The 21.74-square-mile Sacramento
County city, the home of Folsom State Pris-
on, features a historic downtown, access to
the American River Parkway, Lake Nato-
ma, Folsom Lake, and Nimbus and Folsom
dams. The city has 46 developed parks, as
well as other recreational facilities such as
the Steve Miklos Aquatic Center.
Connecting those resources are the
trails, with access points in virtually every
Folsom neighborhood and retail center.
Since 1997, approximately $16 million in
Active Transportation Program grant fund-
ing has covered most of the trail costs to
help construct a system that crisscrosses
the city and its downtown district, connect-
ing with El Dorado County and the 32-mile
Jedediah Smith Memorial Trail that origi-
nates in Sacramento.
“Quality of life is the No. 1 driver,”
McAlea says. She describes Folsom as a hy-
brid city that shares features of both urban
and rural communities. “The investment
Folsom has made in trails says a lot about
what we value.”
“Anyone who uses one of the greatest
amenities we have in the city of Folsom,
which is our trail system, owes a debt of
gratitude to Jim Konopka,” Will Kempton,
head of Folsom Chamber of Commerce’s
economic and business development, said
in a video produced by the Chamber when
Konopka received the chamber’s 2019 Pub-
lic Service Award.
Jim Konopka, retired Folsom senior trails
planner, stands on the bridge over Humbug
Creek that is named after him, the Jim
Konopka Volunteer Bridge.
September 2019 | comstocksmag.com
85