COEUR d'ALENE - The old adage, "the apple doesn't fall far from the tree," comes to mind when you get to know Greta Gissel, the new executive director of the Centennial Trail Foundation.

Gissel, 44, has been an active member of her community for most of her adult life. Her father, Norm Gissel, is pretty well-known for his lifetime of community service as well.

Greta was raised in Coeur d'Alene, attending Bryan Elementary School, Lakes Junior High and Coeur d'Alene High School. She went on to college to earn a degree in elementary education and moved around a bit before coming home to raise her 6-year-old daughter.

After college, she moved to New Mexico then Texas before moving to Japan for a couple of years to teach. When she returned to the states, she landed in the San Francisco Bay area then to Seattle and back home.

Gissel said she made the transition from education into the mortgage business along the way, but when she came home to Coeur d'Alene she took five years off to raise her daughter through her formative years.

She has stayed busy with community involvement projects like Coeur d'Alene Vision 2030 and the Coeur d'Alene Education Partnership. She also helped Coeur d'Alene City Councilwoman Amy Evans run her successful campaign.

When the former executive director of the Centennial Trail Foundation moved on, Gissel said she jumped at the chance to run it.

She got the job and started Jan. 12.

So what attracted you to that job?

The idea of being able to expand recreation opportunities for the community. I am super community focused. Although we do events that are very specific to the athletes, we do family stuff like Coeur d'Fondo. We are doing a kids race as well. I want to get the community more involved in the ownership of what is available to them. When you have grown up here, sometimes you can't see what's available to you because you are stuck in a day-to-day routine. Tourists come here and see it for the attraction it is, but for a lot of locals it's kind of like a shoulder shrug. I am hoping I can get the community to take ownership of it and know that it is theirs to support and be a part of.

How long has the Centennial Trail been around?

It's been around since 1989. I am learning as I go here. The foundation was founded in 1989.

How long is the trail?

It's 24 miles long on this side. The trail extends into downtown Spokane. There is an additional five miles on the Prairie Trail, so 29 altogether.

Where does the Idaho portion start and end?

It starts at the state line near Post Falls and goes all the way to Higgens Point. Then we have the Prairie Trail, which starts at Riverstone and goes to Huetter Road.

Are there any plans to extend the trail?

There are hopeful expansions. The biggest one they are working on right now is going from Coeur d'Alene north into the Silverwood area and then on up into Sandpoint. That would be a major goal.

And then another major goal is to extend the Prairie Trail another mile and three quarters to Greensferry Road. And Post Falls has plans to extend the trail south and connect it to where Stateline and Post Falls connect, from what I understand anyway. This is all in the works right now. Post Falls had a meeting on this (Tuesday). And then of course if we connect to the Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes and continue from Higgens Point forward. There are a lot of ideas about expansion and creating connectivity so there are safe places for our kids and our bike riders to go.

How does the foundation stand financially?

It's solid. We are currently working on membership. Membership is how we drive the funding. We are responsible for expansion, maintenance and advocacy for the trail. Maintenance is quite a lot and expansion is very expensive. The numbers that I have been told is that it costs between $100,000 to $150,000 to create a mile of trail. That's a lot of money. We have spent about $5.5 million building the trail - I think - but I would have to double-check those numbers.

So you are going to do a membership drive?

In essence, we are trying to drive membership so the community takes ownership of the trail. My theme is, "It's my trail." Like, it's my trail and you can say it's your trail and it's my trail for you, so there is that ownership piece and belonging so it has meaning to people.

How do you plan to conduct the membership drive?

I am planning on using the slogan "It's my trail," but I have to run that past the board first. Trail would, in turn, stand for: It's your Time, it's your Recreation, it's your Adventure, it's your Identity and it's your Life. So we are spelling out TRAIL obviously, but that is just kind of the quirky person that I am, so I am not sure if they are going to bite off on that or not. I few more meetings on that. But if I can sell "It's my Trail" and "I Belong," just those two words - what do you belong to? The North Idaho Centennial Trail Foundation - then we are creating the ownership for families, community members and targeting the entire scope of who we are as a city and celebrating what the Centennial Trail has to offer. And the other thing I am planning on doing is an economic impact study. How much is the trail worth to the city financially? Like, how much is the usage and what does that mean in dollars and cents because politicians, they want the dollars and cents. So, if we can get what the trail means in dollars and cents, that would speak volumes.

From an advocacy standpoint, where is the foundation at? Do you plan to get active in the Legislature? It is going to be talking about transportation funding this session.

I have mentioned that to the board, but I don't know exactly where we are headed with that yet. I get direction from the board, obviously, and I am just trying to learn this role in this transition. So I am moving forward with them to create a 30-, 60- and 90-day plan, and 3-year and a five-year plan as we are looking toward the future. As for the Legislature, I absolutely want to be a part of that, but are they going to send me down there? I'll have to talk with you later about that. I don't know. I am hopeful.