Recreation Trails Program Grant Announced for Johnson County
$196,000 Grant for Trail Head Parking, Trail Restoration
MOUNTAIN CITY – Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation Deputy Commissioner Brock Hill today presented a $196,000 Recreational Trails Program (RTP) grant to the Doe Mountain Recreation Area Authority in Johnson County for trail improvements and restoration.
“This recreational grant will allow the Doe Mountain Recreation Area Authority to improve trail access and existing amenities,” Hill said. “I would like to commend Johnson County, the Doe Mountain Recreation Area Authority, The Nature Conservancy and Dr. Tina Delahunty with Texas Tech University’s Department of Geosciences for all their work in obtaining this grant.”
The RTP grant will enable the Doe Mountain Recreation Area Authority to develop trailhead parking. They will also restore one mile of multi-use trail at Morefield Creek and provide ADA-accessible restrooms. Improvements will also be made to the existing subsurface drainage system at Harbin Hill. In addition, eight miles of multi-use trails that extends from Harbin Hill to Morefield Creek will be restored.
“This grant will help fund a great project, improving and restoring the multi-use trail at Morefield Creek,” Lt. Governor Ron Ramsey said. “By improving the recreational opportunities in the community, this grant also enhances the efforts to promote a healthy Tennessee.”
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.
“This recreational grant will allow the Doe Mountain Recreation Area Authority to improve trail access and existing amenities,” State Rep. Timothy Hill said. “I would like to commend Johnson County and Doe Mountain Recreation Area Authority for all their work in obtaining this grant.”
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/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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