The Let’s Connect Perry-to-Woodward connector trail project has received a $15,000 grant for the acquisition of six parcels of land required to extend the iconic High Trestle Trail to the Raccoon River Valley Trail north of Des Moines, the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy (RTC) announced Friday.[wpedon id=”82220″ align=”center”]
“We are honored to be selected as one of the 10 recipients in the nation to be awarded the 2018 Rails-to-Trails Conservancy’s Doppelt Family Trail Development Fund grant,” said Dallas County Conservation Board Director Mike Wallace. “This $15,000 grant will help us continue to move forward with our Raccoon River Valley Trail to High Trestle Trail Connector project. This nine-mile project will connect two of the premier trail systems in the state. The grant will allow us to acquire some of the last parcels needed for the project. We would then continue with our construction as funds allow.”
The Let’s Connect project has so far raised a little more than half of the estimated $5 million project costs. The Dallas County Conservation Board is currently in the first phase of construction, with the first 1.56 miles of the trail to be built this summer from 18th Street eastward to 130th Street.
Wallace said additional construction phases will happen as additional funds are received. If you would like to contribute towards this important project, visit the Let’s Connect website or contact the Dallas County Conservation Board at 515-465-3577.
The Doppelt Fund emphasizes strategic investments that support significant regional and community trail development goals. The fun supports small, regional projects that are vital to trail systems but often fall through the cracks of traditional funding streams. RTC received nearly $5.5 million in application requests for the 2018 grant cycle, demonstrating the national reality of unmet trail funding needs.
“Trail managers commonly express frustration as they seek funding for projects that address important trail maintenance and development needs,” said Eli Griffen, RTC’s manager of trail development resources and the manager of the Doppelt Fund grant program. “These projects are often smaller in scope and scale, making them hard to finance within traditional funding streams. This grant program provides important resources communities need—in some cases, raising awareness of a project within the community, and in others, maintaining trails or providing the match funding necessary to acquire a corridor and build the trail.”
The 2018 Doppelt Fund grantees mark the largest pool of RTC-funded projects to date, with more than $140,000 invested in 10 projects nationwide. The fund was bolstered by an additional $40,000 legacy gift from North Carolina Rail-Trails, Inc. and a $20,000 gift from an anonymous donor.
Other winners of the nationwide 2018 Doppelt Fund grant recipients include:
• City of Dayton, Ohio, receiving $15,000, which will serve as a federal funding match for the acquisition of a former rail corridor that will eventually be home to a new trail, The Flight Line.
• Friends of Clare County Parks and Recreation (Michigan), receiving $5,000 to increase support for an off-road alignment of the Pere Marquette Rail Trail through Clare.
• Idaho Panhandle National Forests, U.S. Forest Service, receiving $20,000 to resurface and reshape the slope of the Route of the Hiawatha through the St. Paul Pass Tunnel.
• Marin County Bicycle Coalition (California), receiving $5,000 to promote efforts to convert the closed Alto rail tunnel into a crucial trail link through Marin County.
• Rock Island Rail Corridor Authority (Missouri), receiving $25,000 for the Greenwood Connector, which will help to build the final 8-mile trail segment to complete a statewide trail connecting St. Louis to Kansas City via the Katy and Rock Island Trails.
• Western New York Land Conservancy Inc., receiving $10,000 to conduct a design competition to convert a former rail line in Buffalo into a trail and linear park.
• New Jersey Bike and Walk Coalition, receiving $7,500 to build support for the Ice and Iron Greenway, a future rail-trail through densely populated and underserved communities in North Jersey.
• Rutherford County Government (North Carolina), receiving $30,000 for trail enhancements that will improve and encourage trail use, including the development of crosswalks and fencing, installation of educational kiosks and signs and construction of wildlife viewing stations along an extension of the Thermal Belt Rail-Trail.
• Southwest Renewal Foundation of High Point, Inc. (North Carolina), receiving $10,000 to increase capacity for the future Southwest High Point Greenway, including outreach expenses and matching funds for additional grants.
“The projects that we were able to fund this year are incredible,” said Jeff Doppelt, a philanthropist from Great Neck, N.Y. “Through a relatively small investment, we’re able to complete and connect iconic trails and improve the trail user experience. Hundreds of these types of projects exist all over the country. It’s important that people begin to understand that the need far outweighs the funding available. These projects are essential to building and maintaining the trails that so many of us love and that communities rely upon for recreation, transportation and economic vitality.”
Established in 2015, the Doppelt Family Trail Development Fund is a way to move forward critical projects that enhance health and transportation connectivity in their regions. A listing of all Doppelt Fund grant recipients can be found on R TC ’s website .
