Rails-to-Trails Conservancy: 2021 Trail Grants Awardees Support Community Connections On and Off Trails
An excerpt from the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy Trail Blog, posted 3/15/21 by Mary Ellen Koontz in Building Trails.
2021 Trail Grants Awardees Support Community Connections On and Off Trails
On March 16, Rails-to-Trails Conservancy (RTC) announced the recipients of its 2021 Trail Grants Program, awarding a total of $145,000 to support 11 trail projects across the country that have been strategically designed to support local and regional economic, health, social, environmental and active transportation goals. Since 2008, RTC has awarded more than $2 million in grants to some 187 trail organizations, with a focus on investing in projects that are vital to community connectivity but may be too small in scale to be funded under traditional trail-funding streams.
This year’s recipients include five Trail Grants awardees and six grantees through the Doppelt Family Trail Development Fund, the latter of which has awarded well over a half-million dollars to nonprofits and government agencies to support critical trail development work in communities since 2015.
Through relatively small investments like these—RTC helps bring trails and trail connections to fruition and supports communities in their efforts to create meaningful walking and bicycling connections that have the potential to be extremely impactful in their local areas.
2021 Doppelt Fund Grantees
The Doppelt Family Trail Development Fund was created by New York philanthropist Jeff Doppelt and an anonymous donor in 2015 as a unique program to support critical trail development work at the community level. Jeff—who sadly passed away earlier this year—was a passionate advocate of the rail-trail movement who saw multiuse trails as powerful tools for historic preservation, and as a way to connect people to the beauty of the American landscape.
In honor of Jeff’s legacy, all of this year’s Doppelt Fund recipients are on or near the preferred route of the Great American Rail-Trail™, further accelerating the development of the 3,700-mile pathway and the connectivity provided by other rail-trails and multiuse paths along its route.
Each of the recipient’s projects will deliver benefits that extend far beyond their footprint, creating long-lasting connections that support the physical and mental, infrastructural and economic health of their communities. Here’s a brief overview of the impact this year’s Doppelt Fund awards.
Transforming Montana Communities
In Montana, two grantees are creating trails that will transform communities in and around Gallatin County. The Headwaters Trail System is just 0.8-mile away from the completion of their 12-mile network in Three Forks. Their $10,000 grant will be used as matching funds for state and federal dollars to complete their section the Great American Rail-Trail as well as their full network as they continue to see increased ridership.
In West Yellowstone, a broad coalition made up of community leaders, business owners and the U.S. Forest Service is working to create the Yellowstone Shortline Trail on a former rail line. The trail will ultimately stretch for 9 miles, from West Yellowstone and through U.S. Forest Service Land to inside the national park. The Doppelt Fund award has already played a role in the Shortline’s competitiveness in securing a larger grant from the Great American Outdoors Act and will assist in the conversion of this historic rail line into a family-friendly trail that connects year-round residents and park visitors to the West Yellowstone Historic District.
To read the full blog, please visit: https://www.railstotrails.org/trailblog/2021/march/15/2021-trail-grants-awardees-support-community-connections-on-and-off-trails/