For Vernon Compton, a simple walk along a wooded trail is about as healthy a thing as a person can do.
Along with the health and physical fitness aspects of it, communing with nature does all kinds of what he calls “quality of life” things for the heart, mind and soul.
Perhaps more practically, he sees the environmental benefits of preserving land that might otherwise be lost to development and economic bonuses derived from funds spent in the county by tourists visiting the area to experience the beauty of nature just outside of an urban setting…