A regional non-profit group called RiverLink is sponsoring a two-week canoe and kayak tour of the Nolichucky River that will pass through Greene County later this month.

Paul Hayden told the Greene County Partnership's Trails Committee during its meeting Thursday about RiverLink's plans to conduct "Paddlin' the Nolichucky" from May 23 through June 6.

On Saturday, May 30, those taking part in the canoe trip will stop at Davy Crockett Birthplace State Park in Limestone to take park in "RiverFest," Hayden told the Trails Committee.

Hayden said organizers plan to soon release details of the RiverFest event and hope many others will take part in the first of what he hopes will become an annual event at Davy Crockett Birthplace State Park.

The RiverFest in Davy Crockett Birthplace State Park will begin at 10 a.m., May 30, and will end about 6 p.m. that day.

"Paddlin' the Nolichucky" is a two-week monitoring, education, and outreach trip, according to the RiverLink newsletter.

The trip will start at Riverside Park on the North Toe River in Spruce Pine, N.C., and finish at the mouth of the French Broad River (at Douglas Lake) 140 miles downstream, according to the May issue of RiverLink newsletter.

"This trip is designed to monitor the water quality of the river, but to also educate the public about the challenges facing the river and highlight the river as a world class recreation destination," according to the newsletter.

The trip will feature a variety of activities for the public to join.

RiverLink is a regional non-profit organization that "is spearheading the economic and environmental revitalization of the French Broad River and its tributaries as a place to work, live and play," according to its mission statement.

Hayden, who is the part-time executive director of the Middle Nolichucky Watershed Alliance, also told the Partnership's Trails Committee that he is surveying a route for a proposed "Kinser Park Loop" trail that could be built at Kinser Park.

As envisioned, the proposed multi-use trail would follow the entire perimeter of Kinser Park and pass along the park's Nolichucky River frontage.

Hayden, formerly Greene County's soil conservationist, told the committee that the length of the proposed trail would be about 3.2 miles.

After the meeting, Hayden said he has not yet sought formal approval of the loop trail concept from the Kinser Park Commission, although he has discussed the trail concept with some members of the commission.

Hayden also told the Trails Committee that he was working with Tusculum College officials on a concept for a walking and biking trail that would link the college with the Greeneville Commons Shopping Center.

He noted that plans are for that proposed trail to follow power-line rights-of-way along Holley Creek into Greeneville.

Also speaking at the meeting was Herb Heinze, president of Back Country Horsemen of East Tennessee.

Heinze told the committee that his organization was formed in 2000 and voluntarily maintains multi-use trails throughout the Cherokee National Forest between the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Damascus, Va.

He told the committee that his organization is working with the U.S. Forest Service to develop a method for rating the degree of difficulty users of the various multi-use trails can expect to encounter.

"We're not a social club," Heinze said of his organization. "We're a working club."

Members of Back Country Horsemen use their horses to carry tools and materials into the Cherokee National Forest to repair and maintain trails, he said.

In one instance, he said, participating horsemen carried 2,700 pounds of cement (in 60-pound sacks) up the Meadow Creek Trail in southern Greene County to make trail repairs.

He said the organization's membership fluctuates between 400 and 600 members.

Heinze also told the Trails Committee that the Davis Creek Trail in the southern Greene County section of the Cherokee National Forest is in need of major repairs that will require the use of heavy equipment. "The trail needs help," he said.

Also during Thursday's meeting, the Trails Committee discussed plans to staff a booth during the 2009 Iris Festival on April 16 and 17.

Cheryl Summers, of the U.S. Forest Service, brought to the meeting laminated color photos of portions of several area hiking, biking and horseback riding trails.

She said she had laminated the photos, which had been supplied by other committee members, for display during the Iris Festival.

Information about the trails in the southern Greene County portion of the Cherokee National Forest (and in adjacent counties) will be distributed from the Trails Committee's booth during the Iris Festival, Tammy Kinser, the Partnership's tourism director, told the committee.

Volunteers also will use a door-prize drawing at the booth as a means of building a database of prospective trail users and other outdoor enthusiasts, Kinser said.

Kinser hopes to learn within the next few weeks if the Partnership has won a grant to promote outdoor recreational tourism.

Earlier this year, Kinser told the committee that an application for a $10,000 Rural Business Enterprise Grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture had been submitted.

If the grant is won, Kinser said, more than $6,000 will be used to set up and operate Web sites devoted exclusively to attracting hikers, bike riders, canoeists and kayakers to Greeneville and Greene County.

The remainder of the funds would be used for installation of signs along Interstate 81 that will promote "Historic Downtown Greeneville" and outdoor recreational opportunities.

Kinser also told the committee that she had researched possible names for the Web site that could be used to promote trails and other outdoor recreational opportunities.

After reviewing a list of options, committee members settled on http://netnoutdoors.com or http://netnoutdoors.org as possible names for the Web site.

Shari Oster, who operates of The Oaks Retreat and Campground in Camp Creek with her husband, Rex, suggested that the committee sponsor a design contest among area high school and college students to design a logo for the proposed Web site.