WNYMBA seeks Grant Money for Allegany Trails

WNYMBA has been working on turnnig the major successes with the Allegany State Park master plan into reality.

Not only with the big spring and fall trail work weekends to get the new ridge run singletrack built.  But also on submitting grant applications to help get these trails built.  Since Allegany is a little farther from Buffalo than E-ville, and more importantly, because the trails to be built are much farther from roads it will take longer to get these built.  Add to that the significant amount of bench cutting required (which makes the best trails!), means that these routes are prime candidates for some machine built singletrack, and that takes money.

We submitted three grants for programs through IMBA earlier this year, the Bell Built grant, the Clif Bar Grant, and the competetive cyclist grant, but were not selected.

However, we recently submitted a very large application to one of the grand daddies of the all - the Recreational Trails Program (RTP).  Perhaps you have gotten e-mails from IMBA about the importance of maintaining funding for this program.  It has been successfully funded and the funds in New York are put out for competition every two years by the State Parks folks.  We submitted a proposal for about $150,000 in funding to help build the proposed Stone Tower trail, an eight mile singletrack that will head out from the Stone Tower all the way over to above the Indian Casino and back.

As you can imagine, this was a significant effort.  We are not sure when we hear the results, but if we win it, then the real hard work will begin, as we will be required to provide about $30,000 in volunteer labor as a match.

So keep your fingers crossed, and be ready if we are successful!{jcomments on}