As you may recall, WNYMBA announced last year that in partnership with Allegany State Park, a Recreational Trails Program (RTP) grant was made to construct the new Stone Tower Trail at Allegany. The grant is for about $95,000, but the terms of the grant is that we have to match 20% in funds and/or volunteer labor. We are on the hook for between $18K and $19K. That is where the IMBA Digin Campaign came into play last year. Thanks to you all, we raised thousands of dollars that will go towards the match. We have also been raising money through raffles and other events, but will have to make a major push again in the next year to raise more for our match.
We also plan to use volunteer labor towards the match. Unfortunately, the considerable number of hours we have already spent on this trail won’t count because they were prior to award. We have workers standing by, including Greg Snow with his excavator (yeah Greg!) ready to go, but we have to hold off until it the period opens up for this to count towards the match.
But in summary, this grant, and this trail (the portion in the very center of the image above – the existing ASP trails, including the new thunder run is on the left, and a future Stone Tower expansion all the way to just above the Salamanca Casino – phase 2 – is in the lower right) is a definite go. WNYMBA wants everyone who contributed to know that this funding you contributed is still there and will be put towards this new trail. We have been in constant consultation with the Park, and they are putting the finishing touches on the extensive paperwork needed for this grant. Once that paperwork is in place, the Park will hire someone similar to the firm (Dirt Artisans) who built Jakes Rocks to come in and build most of the trail, with WNYMBA building the rest as part of the match. The Park indicated that they expect the time when volunteer match will be eligible should be in a month or so, so look for volunteer opportunities to come at that time. And until then, raising the total of $18K+ will be a challenge, even with the volunteer labor and the digin campaign, so anyone out there who wants to help us meet this goal, please contact our treasurer Joe Crumlish about a donation.
This trails is going to be awesome, and it is definitely going to happen. Time to get excited!