Envision Lincoln awarded $38,000 USDA RDBG grant

A $38,000 Rural Development Block Grant awarded to Envision Lincoln by the USDA is helping to fund additional planning for an in-town trails plan, as well as two contractor positions to support Envision Lincoln’s goals.

Karyn Good, Envision Lincoln’s lead community coordinator, learned of the award July 8. She and Erin Farris-Olsen, the rural development director for the Heart of the Rockies Initiative, worked to prepares and submit the grant application through HOR on behalf of Envision Lincoln to help the organization develop a detailed “implementation planning report” for the in-town trails plan.

According to Good, USDA RBDG funds are designed to provide technical assistance and training for small businesses. She explained their grant application was successful because studies have shown that trails near communities bolster local businesses.

The-intown trails plan was one of the first priorities tackled by Envision Lincoln members following the workshops in 2017-18 that established the economic development group. The original trail plan, created in July 2018, was designed to develop walkable or bikeable trails that connect the community to local assets like the River Park, Sculpture in the Wild and Parker Medical Center.

However, as efforts to create the trails progressed, it became apparent additional planning would be needed if Envision Lincoln wanted to be successful in securing grant funding and in developing partnerships with government agencies and other organizations.

The implementation planning report funded by the grant will help create more in-depth and detailed plan for the project.

“Basically, our deliverable is to have a new, completed in-town trails report by next August that will include things like trail alternatives, cost estimates, development plans and different trails surfaces,” Good said as part of a review during a July 30 Zoom meeting with members of the Montana Main Street program. “A lot of planning, a lot of detail needs to go into this report so we can reach out to our county staff, to MDT and folks like that, to move this project forward and to be taken really seriously.”

Since the in-town trails will have to be developed in separate segments due to the cost of trail construction, the report will be used to prioritize them based on factors such as cost, connectivity, necessity and community support. It will also provide the information and data needed to apply for additional funding, such as Recreational Trails Program grants and Transportation Alternative funds.

Envision Lincoln plans to re-evaluate the community priorities for the trails this year, with plans to post large scale maps showing the trail sections at various locations around Lincoln soon.

Since the last round of community feedback, they’ve taken a step back from one of the trails originally identified as a top priority.

“The Stemple Pass Road trail is going to be difficult, largely due to the bridge,” Good said. “If we’re going to create trails leading to a bridge, we have to have a safe way for people to get over the bridge and to the Community River Park.”

Currently, crossing the narrow two-lane bridge on foot can be risky and a pedestrian crossing of some sort will be necessary.

‘It’s not impossible and there is funding available for bridges, but it’s going to take a lot of planning and a lot more work than we originally thought,” Good said.

Aside from in-town trails planning, the grant will also help cover a salary for Good as a community coordinator for Heart of the Rockies. Good first took on duties as the coordinator for Envision Lincoln when she worked as a contractor for the Blackfoot Challenge, where she served as their Rural Sustainment Coordinator for several months.

The USDA grant also funded the hiring of Joel Wilson through Heart of the Rockies. Wilson will take on the task of developing an interactive public lands trail map that will be hosted on the Lincoln Valley Chamber of Commerce website. The printable and mobile app friendly map encompass all existing trails on the Lincoln Ranger District, including hiking, biking and equestrian trails and ATV and snowmobile. The interactive map will be an evolution of a process begun last year by Paige Hanover, a Montana Conservation Corps intern who spent 14 weeks working with the Lincoln Ranger district to map and catalog public land trails in the Lincoln area.