David M. Kennedy Opening Keynote (Rural West 2016)
The 2016 Eccles Rural West Conference opened with an address by Bill Lane Center for the American West co-founder David M. Kennedy, who took attendees on a virtual flyover tour of the emerging Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail, which will stretch from Glacier National Park (just 130 miles north of the conference), to Cape Alava on Washington's Olympic Peninsula, 1,200 miles away. Prof. Kennedy is on the US Forest Service's advisory board for the trail, and he spoke about the challenges of stitching together public access across a vast and topographically challenging region.