Robert Searns

Mr. Searns has a five-decade history of visualizing, planning, and getting trails and greenway projects built. He was project director of Denver’s Platte River and Mary Carter Greenways, which were both national-award-winning projects. He helped plan the Grand Canyon NP Greenway and played a key role in planning the Memphis Wolf River Greenway. He served as national chair of American Trails, was a founding member of the Board of The World Trails Network and was a delegate to the White House Great America Outdoors Conference. He authored Beyond Greenways: The Next Step for City Trails and Walking Routes (One of 10 “Best Books of 2023” from the American Society of Landscape Architects/ The Dirt) and co-authored Greenways: A Guide to Planning Design and Development, both published by Island Press. He currently writes for the Island Press Short Form Project. He has written for Public Square, Landscape Architecture, American Trails, LA China and Planning magazines and the Island Press Urban Resilience Project. He has hosted numerous Webinars, interviewed on multiple podcasts, and has been a keynote speaker as well as a trainer for the U.S. National Park Service, American Planning Association and the Urban Land Institute. He chaired American Trails and was a founder of The World Trails Network. He was also a delegate to the America’s Great Outdoors White House conclave (President Obama). He resides, writes, hikes and bikes near Denver, Colorado.