TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTWO/WAWV) — RiverSCAPE Board recently elected a new president and went to work developing a strategic plan for the organization.

Bryan Horsman was elected as the new President of RiverSCAPE. Horsman first learned about RiverSCAPE in 2010 from his Cross County and Track coach, John McNichols, at Indiana State.

The late John McNichols was the founder of RiverSCAPE. His runners used the wetland trails as their ‘soft surface’ for training.

During Horsman’s time at ISU, he participated in the trash clean-ups in the Wabashiki Wetlands and used the trails three to five times per week.

“Running for ISU, we spent a lot of time out in the Wabashiki Wetlands,” Horsman said. “Coach McNichols was a big proponent of that, our soft surface, which was right in the backyard of Indiana State’s Campus. So, it’s one of those hidden gems that a lot of people didn’t know about back then,” he added.

Horsman shares McNichols’ passion for wanting to make the trails longer and has devoted many hours volunteering with RiverSCAPE to do that.

“So, the trails keep developing year from year and that was something,” Horsman said. “Early on it was small and now you can go out there and run, fish, and hunt. So, we look froward to continuing that growth out there,” he added.

The RiverSCAPE Board is currently working on its strategic plan. The plan will help identify many projects RiverSCAPE will work on over the next few years.

In addition to the newly planned projects, Horsman looks forward to the organization’s annual events.

“Flowering at Fairbanks will come up this spring, Moonlite on the Wabash and Explore Wabashiki will be later in the fall,” Horsman reflected.

Horsman said RiverSCAPE hopes to wrap up the planning by mid-summer. Then the board, along with volunteers will start implementing the plan to connect more community members to the thousands of acres that are available for running, exploring, hunting, fishing, and more.