Bozeman Daily Chronicle: Trail projects in Three Forks, West Yellowstone win national rail-trail grants

An excerpt from a Bozeman Daily Chronicle article publishing 3/24/2021.

Trail projects in Three Forks, West Yellowstone win national rail-trail grants

By Helena Dore Chronicle Staff Writer, 3/24/2021

Trails projects in West Yellowstone and Three Forks have won grants from the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy to fund trail-building efforts and fill in critical trail gaps.

The Yellowstone Historic Center in West Yellowstone and the Headwaters Trail System in Three Forks each received $10,000 grants from the Doppelt Family Trail Development Fund. The grant program provides money for developing and maintaining trail gaps along the Great American Rail-Trail — a 3,700 mile trail set to connect 12 states from Washington D.C. to Washington State.

The grant awarded to the Yellowstone Historic Center will help fund constructing the Yellowstone Shortline Trail — a 9-mile multi-use pathway following an abandoned Union Pacific Railroad bed. Once complete, the trail will connect the Montana-Idaho border at Reas Pass to the west boundary of Yellowstone National Park in West Yellowstone.

A group of West Yellowstone locals, the Forest Service and the historic center began organizing efforts in June to fund and build the biking and hiking trail.

Kaitlin Johnson, executive director of the Yellowstone Historic Center, said project leaders plan to use the grant money to construct a portion of the trail on Forest Service land. Construction on the approximately 8-mile section is planned to begin this spring, she said.

Additional funding from the Custer Gallatin National Forest secured through the Great American Outdoors Act will help cover the cost of paving the trail. A $750,000 donation from the Dr. Ezekiel R. and Edna Wattis Dumke Foundation will help cover additional costs.

“The Yellowstone Shortline Trail is honored to have been recognized by the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, the nation’s largest trails organization dedicated to building a nation connected by trails, reimagining public spaces to create safe ways for everyone to walk, bike and be active outdoors,” project leaders wrote in a news release.


To read more, please visit: https://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/news/environment/trail-projects-in-three-forks-west-yellowstone-win-national-rail-trail-grants/article_11e6fe9e-80ad-512d-b359-d4cdf322af29.html