Three groups become one · Fort Wayne Trails, 2011

2001 — 2011, and after

For a decade the network had three builders, one for each corner of the county, and they were bidding against each other for the same money. The oldest was the Rivergreenway Consortium of the 1970s (above). The second, Aboite New Trails, was created in December 2001 in the township suburbs southwest of the city; its co-founders Lynn Reecer and Stephanie Schultz built it after the death of a close family friend and cyclist in 2001, and over the following decade the organization raised $13 million and built over twenty miles of trail, and pressed the city — successfully — to hire a greenways manager. The third, Northwest Allen Trails (also styled Northwest Allen County Trails), took up the northwest in the early 2000s; Bill Adams, who had begun riding rail-trails in other states after heart surgery in 1999 and wondered why Fort Wayne had none, became a founding member in 2004, and the group's project became the Pufferbelly Trail.

The City professionalized alongside them: it hired its first greenways manager in 2005 — Dawn Ritchie has directed the city's greenways work from that year — and in 2005 the Greenways Department moved out of the Parks Department into Public Works, a bureaucratic fact the City itself reads as the moment trails stopped being recreation only and became transportation. In January 2011, at the mayor's urging, the three nonprofits merged into one: Fort Wayne Trails, Inc., a 501(c)(3) whose inception, in its own formulation, "is the result of merging three area non-profit trails' initiatives – Aboite New Trails, Greenway Consortium and Northwest Allen Trails." The merged organization promotes the trails, raises private money for new construction, and receives no government funding; new trail in the city is typically built by the city and county with Fort Wayne Trails raising private shares and advocacy. Its volunteer Adopt-A-Greenway program — established in 1991, in the consortium era — manages over sixty adopted sections and was incorporated into Fort Wayne Trails in early 2024. With the City it runs Trek the Trails, the free guided community ride series whose fifth season opened in May 2014, which puts the series' start in 2010; the rides run weekly, May to October, over the whole network.

Sources: AroundFortWayne, "Peddling fun: Trek the Trails offers free summer fare" (6 May 2014) — Fort Wayne Trails "Created in January 2011," the three-way merger, the Greenways Department's 2005 move to Public Works, 20 miles of trails before the move and 28 more built since, Trek the Trails season five. Fort Wayne Trails media alert (19 Oct 2012) — the January 2011 creation and merger, in the organization's own words. Business People, "Fort Wayne Realtor Lynn Reecer Named Finalist for National Award" (10 Nov 2011) — Reecer and Stephanie Schultz; the 2001 death; $13 million raised; over 20 miles built; the greenways manager hire. The Waynedale News, "Get Caught on the Aboite Trails" (17 Jun 2009) — "Created in December 2001, Aboite New Trails, Inc." Input Fort Wayne, "How trails are connecting communities" (18 Apr 2018) — Bill Adams, founding member of the Northwest Allen Trails Group in 2004; the 2011 merger. Smart Living Fort Wayne (26 Apr 2021) — the three groups "were competing for the same funding, so they came together." Fort Wayne Trails, 2026 Sponsorship Packet — merger of Aboite New Trails, Northwest Allen Trails, and the Rivergreenway Consortium; no government funding; Adopt A Greenway established 1991, incorporated into Fort Wayne Trails in early 2024. Northeastern Indiana Regional Coordinating Council, Transportation Times, Spring 2026 — first greenways manager hired 2005. City of Fort Wayne news release (Aug 2016) — "City Greenways and Trails Director, Dawn Ritchie, has managed the trail construction projects and maintenance since 2005."