Recreation Trails Program Grant Announced for Shelby Farms Park Conservancy

$40,000 Grant for Trail Restoration

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation Deputy Commissioner Brock Hill presented a $40,000 Recreational Trails Program (RTP) grant to the Shelby Farms Park Conservancy in Shelby County on Nov. 26 to restore trails on the Tour de Wolf Trail Systems at Shelby Farms Park.

“This recreational grant will allow Shelby Farms to restore over six miles of trails,” Hill said. “By improving the recreational opportunities in this community, this grant also enhances the efforts to promote a healthy Tennessee. I would like to congratulate the Shelby Farms Park Conservancy for their hard work in obtaining this grant.”

The RTP grant will enable the Shelby Farms Park Conservancy to perform a comprehensive restoration of 6.1 miles of multi-use, unpaved trails on the Tour de Wolf Trail System at Shelby Farms Park.

The Recreational Trails Program is a federally-funded program established to distribute funding for diverse recreation trail projects. The funds are available to federal, state and local government agencies, as well as non-profit organizations under certain conditions.

Recreational Trails Program grants may be used for non-routine maintenance and restoration of existing trails, development and rehabilitation, trailside or trailhead facilities such as restrooms, kiosks and parking lots, construction of new trails and land acquisition for recreational trails or corridors.

Funding for RTP grants is provided by the Federal Highway Administration through the federal Safe, Accountable, Flexible and Efficient Transportation Equity Act. The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation administers this grant program for the state. The maximum federal share for each project is 80 percent, with RTP grant recipients providing a 20 percent match.

Grant recipients are selected through a scoring process with careful consideration given to the projects that met the selection criteria and expressed the greatest local recreation need.

To learn more about the RTP grant program and other recreation or conservation-based grant programs available in the future, please visit http://tn.gov/environment/recreation/recreation_grants.shtml. For more information about the RTP grant program, contact Gerald Parish at 615-532-0538 or Gerald.Parish@tn.gov.  

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