Wissahickon Trails has installed new trail signs on the popular Green Ribbon Trail to improve visitor safety and navigation along its pathway, which begins just outside of Chestnut Hill and extends through Montgomery County.

The land conservation nonprofit implemented new trail markers and emergency locator signs every quarter mile on Wednesday, Sept. 24, replacing the half-mile trail signs. Each sign displays the name of the township and is part of Montgomery County’s emergency response system, making it easier for visitors to relay their locations in the event of the emergency, according to a press release by Wissahickon Trails.

Margaret Rohde, conservation manager at Wissahickon Trails, recalled an incident at the Green Ribbon Trail several years ago, where a hiker experienced an emergency situation and needed to be found quickly.

“This is something that we think about a lot because we work on the trails too, so even staff members need to be reached,” she said. “It just made a lot of sense for the safety of everybody. ... ‘How do I get to somebody as fast as possible when they’re in the middle of kind of nowhere?’”

The Green Ribbon Trail, which has over 1,000 visitors a year, spans 10.5 miles and features Evans-Mumbower Mill, Four Mills Barn, and other historic sites, according to the Wissahickon Trails website.

As part of the project, Wissahickon Trails decorated trees with custom printed Wissahickon Trails markers in between the new signs. These markers are easier to read than the previous green blazes that were painted on trees, Rohde said.

The new signage also gives the Green Ribbon Trail a new numbering system. Mile 0.0 begins at Skippack Pike, the trail’s southern tip, and extends north to mile 10.5 at Parkside Place in Upper Gwynedd. The zero-mile marker was originally located at Parkside Place, Rohde said.

The Skippack Pike marker will make it easier for people to navigate the Cross County Trail, which intersects with the Green Ribbon Trail and goes through Fort Washington State Park, she said. Having the end of the trail at Parkside Place also leaves room for the Wissahickon Trails to potentially expand Green Ribbon Trail north beyond Upper Gwynedd.

Rohde said Wissahickon Trails started prioritizing safety and wayfinding improvements more during the COVID-19 pandemic, which “showed us how many people need to connect to nature.”

The organization received a grant from Montgomery County as part of the American Rescue Plan Act to improve access to the trail, she said. “It’s been a great year, because we’ve done so much that I think has made it so much easier for people to enjoy visiting our trails and preserves, and that feels really good.”

In the past year, Wissahickon Trails has replaced several bridges, completed trail surface improvement projects and put anti-slip treads on boardwalks.

“Everything that we do is possible because we have community support ... a community that really shares our values when it comes to protecting nature and making it accessible for more people. So we’re grateful for that,” Rohde said.

Abby Weiss is an environmental reporter for the Local and a Report for America corps member. She can be reached at Abby@chestnuthilllocal.com.