[July 18, 2011] Training for trail survey-takers set Tweet Jul 16, 2011 (The Daily Courier - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- The Great Allegheny Passage not only provides a scenic bike and walking trail through southwestern Pennsylvania and into Maryland, it serves as an economic stimulus for towns through the trail passes. Volunteers survey passage users to determine their destinations and where they plan to spend money. A new multi-month survey will take place starting Wednesday. Volunteer survey-takers are needed. Training will take place during a conference call at noon Monday. E-mail or call Will Prince at the Trail Town Outreach Corps, [email protected] or 724-603-3151 before noon on Monday to register and for the conference call number. The training will take about one hour. Each town needs about 10 survey volunteers. They may take the surveys individually or in pairs. Survey-takers will conduct 50 to 60 surveys a month through October on the Connellsville portion of the Great Allegheny Passage. Survey volunteers are also needed in Homestead, Boston, West Newton, Ohiopyle, Confluence, Rockwood and Meyersdale, plus Frostburg and Cumberland, Md. Participants in those communities will also receive training at noon Monday. Volunteer responsibilities include: communicating availability to trail head leader for scheduling purposes, intercepting trail users and conducting the oral surveys, entering surveys online upon interview completion, and giving all completed surveys and tracking sheets to the trail head leader. The last survey took place in 2008, said Amy Camp, Trail Town Program manager. "Latest survey figures indicate $40 million in direct spending along the passage," Camp said. "The new survey will help update our economic impact study, as well as finding out where users are walking or biking, where they're staying and where they're spending money. We want to do a new survey every three years." To see more of The Daily Courier or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/dailycourier/. Copyright (c) 2011, The Daily Courier, Connellsville, Pa. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For more information about the content services offered by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services (MCT), visit www.mctinfoservices.com. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]