To improve singletrack and walking paths in the Kootenays, the Columbia Basin Trust has launched new Trail Enhancement Grants worth $1.5-million over the three years.

Whether biking to work, hiking peaks or walking pets, Kootenay residents prize their trails. And the new Trail Enhancement Grants offered by the Columbia Basin Trust (CBT) will ensure those pathways remain in top shape.

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

The CBT announced it will launch new three-year, $1.5-million Trail Enhancement Grants to help fund projects that rehabilitate current trails (whether they old or storm damaged) 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.

“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 first deadline is December 18, 2018 and the CBT will fund a maximum of $25,000 per project. Apply at ourtrust.org/trailgrants.

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.