A public workshop focusing on ideas for Haywood County trails that could become part of a Regional Trails Plan will be held at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 15, in the multi-purpose room at the Waynesville Recreation Center on Vance Street.

The Southwestern Commission, through a grant from the North Carolina Division of Parks and Recreation and its State Trails Program, is leading a regional trails inventory and concept plan for Cherokee, Clay, Haywood, Graham, Jackson, Macon and Swain counties. Other workshops have been held in other counties throughout the summer and fall to generate ideas.

“We have had a lot of ideas from participants in the other workshops about connecting and expanding existing trails and creating new ones,” said Sarah Graham, planner with the Southwestern Commission. “As a starting point, we are organizing the results of plans such as the Waynesville Pedestrian Plan, Haywood County Bicycle Plan and Haywood County Parks and Recreation Master Plan into a cohesive set of documents and maps.”

The primary product of this plan will be a region-wide map indicating where existing hiking trails, greenways, mountain bike trails, equestrian trails, OHV trails and some on-road bicycle routes are located.

Completion of the plan is expected in early 2013.