A generous grant will help to complete a major project in Greene County.
Greene County Conservation recently received a $125,000 grant from Grow Greene County Gaming Corporation to pave the remaining trail crossings on the Raccoon River Valley Trail. Director Dan Towers says he was completely surprised to see the full amount of funds that he applied for for the project.
“That was a grant that I asked for, hoping to get enough to maybe do two maybe I thought we might see $30,000 or $40,000. So when I flipped their big check over and they showed it was for the entire $125,000, I was stunned. I never believed I would see that amount on there.”
There are nine total crossings and Towers notes that they were able to pave one crossing last year, that’s south of the trailhead in Jefferson, and another is slated to be completed this year at Winklemen’s Switch, with funds from other grants through the Greene County Community Foundation.
Towers wants to thank everyone for their support in receiving grant funding for their project.
“I mean they’re broad-based committees representing the whole county and the importance they see the Raccoon River Valley Trail is to this community. You always read where recreation opportunities are a big draw for families moving to a community and apparently they believe that because they’ve sure funded us well.”
He says the county partnered with Guthrie County and was awarded a federal grant through Region XII Council of Governments, but the funds weren’t available until the 2018 fiscal year. Since the county hasn’t seen any of those funds yet, Towers thought the funds would be re-allocated to other projects.
Towers is excited to possibly get all the crossings completed by the end of the year.