It's spring! I can't wait to pump up my bike tires and get back on the rail trails. We are so lucky. Northampton enjoys extensive, beautiful, and accessible trails that knit our community together. I feel so grateful for the Friends of Northampton Trails (FNT). FNT volunteers do so much, from organizing annual spring trail cleanups (this year on April 27 or April 28 if it is raining), promoting art on the trails, planning community bike rides, to working with the city and the DPW to prioritize repairing parts of the trail this year! Without this advocacy, our trails would continue to crumble away, becoming unsafe, unstable, and unusable! If you want safe, accessible, sustainable, and more connected ways to get around our city, I hope you consider becoming a member of FNT this spring during FNT’s membership drive! Please join me, and "Love Your Trails" by becoming a member: www.fntrails.org.

Julia Riseman

Northampton