Enhancing recreational opportunities on Basin trails

Columbia Basin Trust is launching its Trail Enhancement Grant program to fund the building and repair of area trails

Fernie’s Inclusive Trails are now complete! If your group is looking to create new trails or improve existing ones, like Fernie Trail Alliance did, apply now for the Trust’s new Trail Enhancement Grants. — Photo courtesy Columbia Basin Trust

Whether biking to work, hiking peaks or walking pets, Columbia Basin residents prize the trails in our communities and surrounding areas. To improve these paths and support healthy outdoor lifestyles, Columbia Basin Trust is launching its new three-year, $1.5-million Trail Enhancement Grants.

“Basin residents rely on trails for recreation, exercise and everyday life, and this program will help make sure these networks are in great shape so present and future generations can enjoy them,” said Johnny Strilaeff, Columbia Basin Trust President and Chief Executive Officer. “Supporting healthy active lifestyles for Basin residents is a priority for us.”

The grants will help fund projects that rehabilitate current trails—perhaps because they were damaged in a storm or have aging infrastructure like bridges—or build new trails. Funding may be provided to make trails more accessible, and user-friendly, to a wider variety of users, incorporate Indigenous cultural or heritage values, reduce environmental impacts or connect existing trails. Funding may also go toward amenities like signs and benches.

The deadline to apply for the first intake, offering a total of $500,000, is December 18, 2018. The Trust will fund a maximum of $25,000 per project. Learn more about the program and apply at ourtrust.org/trailgrants.

This program is one of the ways the Trust is addressing its strategic priority to support recreation and physical activity in the region. It’s also part of its broader, $3-million, three-year commitment to support recreational sites and trails in particular. In addition, the Trust’s Recreation Infrastructure Grants provided $9.4 million to 153 projects over three years. The Trust also launched Basin PLAYS, which supports youth sports and physical activity in communities and schools. Learn more at ourtrust.org/recreation.

Columbia Basin Trust supports the ideas and efforts of the people in the Columbia Basin. To learn more about the Trust’s programs and initiatives, and how it helps deliver social, economic and environmental benefits to the Basin, visit ourtrust.org or call 1-800-505-8998.