Liisa Jackson: Tenacious trailblazer

It started with her horse, Macho.

A year ago, Liisa Jackson of Hopkinton had no idea what the Board of Selectmen was. But then she learned that her favorite riding trails might be paved over for buildings.

Jackson rallied dozens of people passionate about riding, walking, biking, jogging, snowshoeing, and cross-country skiing. She transformed herself from political neophyte to local leader, and put trails on the local political map.

''I've gotten a crash course in town politics," she said.

Jackson, 36, has been in the saddle since before she was born. Her mother rode until she was 8 1/2 months pregnant. Jackson got her first horse when she was 2 years old.

She moved to Massachusetts from Idaho in 1987 to work on a horse farm in Littleton. A former nurse who now is a stay-at-home mother, she was drawn to Hopkinton six years ago in no small part because of its ''endless" trails.

Jackson especially enjoyed riding Macho, a retired racehorse she got for free, on a stretch next to Weston Nurseries near her home. Early this year, the 615-acre property was put up for sale and she worried whether the peaceful trails she loved would remain accessible.

Jackson launched a letter-writing campaign asking selectmen to put ordinary residents -- rather than just members of other town boards -- on the Land Use Study Committee, which would play a key role in the property's future. She also called each of the five selectmen, and went to their meetings.

The effort paid off: She was named to the committee.

In April, Jackson mounted another campaign, this time to persuade selectmen to establish a Trails Committee. She saw its job as drawing up a long-term plan to expand and link the town's extensive hiking and riding trails -- a diplomatic challenge, as many meander through private property.

The board approved the creation of the committee, which was so popular that 23 people applied for a seat. Jackson serves as one of five at-large members on the seven-person board.

But not all has been happy on the trails.

Selectmen have told Jackson to slow down. Citing concerns about trails running right past bedroom windows, they want her new committee to put off talk about expanding the trail system until it has a policy covering basic issues such as right-of-way and liability.

''There's as many people in town [that] don't want trails as do want trails," said Eric Sonnett, selectmen chairman. ''The trails committee has a lot of responsibility, which she doesn't seem to want to recognize. . . . It looks like she's leading a charge for something, but I don't know what it is."

But Jackson won't be deterred. She has launched an independent Trails Club, which is open to everyone. She says the group has 30 ''very active" members and 200 names and growing on an e-mail list. Besides grooming and improving the trails, members do the kind of big-picture brainstorming that Jackson had hoped the Trails Committee would do. It also has an adopt-a-trail program and bimonthly guided hikes.

''We're kind of a really tight group and we're getting a lot done," Jackson said.

Jackson still takes regular morning jaunts with Macho on the land near her home. The town is expected to buy the property next year, but whether her favorite trails will be preserved is unknown.

In the meantime, she spends 20 hours per week volunteering on behalf of the trails network. She's become an activist, she said with a laugh. ''Oh, my God, what happened to my life?"