The Deschutes Trails Coalition announced today their inaugural Small Projects Grant program for trail-focused projects within the Deschutes National Forest. For 2018, this program will award up to a total of $60,000 for multiple small projects.
The Deschutes Trails Coalition is currently soliciting proposals for trails-focused small projects occurring on, or impacting, publicly accessible trails in the Deschutes National Forest. Project proposals that maintain or restore existing trails are encouraged.
Request for Proposal – June 2, 2018
Small Project Grants – Application
The purpose of the Deschutes Trails Coalition (DTC) is to ensure a future of sustainable trails in Central Oregon. The DTC includes representatives from the conservation, business, tourism, and trail-user communities who work together to make recommendations to envision and create a sustainable trail system on the Deschutes National Forest. Our values reflect “Four Pillars” of sustainability: ecological, social, economic, and physical. Our organizational goals include:
Building support for and awareness of what goes into sustainable trail use and management on the Deschutes National Forest, integrating the ecological, social, economic and physical values of diverse stakeholders with current and future use in mind.
Cultivating diverse funding, volunteers and other resources to support trail maintenance, development and enhancement.
Engaging the public through outreach, education and opportunities for sharing and dialogue.
Serving as a hub for coordinating partners to leverage resources and accomplish shared goals.
The Deschutes Trails Coalition formed in 2017 from diverse local and regional recreation stakeholders who came together to provide organized community leadership and support to the Forest Service in an effort to address escalating challenges to our trail systems. Accomplishing this requires thoughtful development of a sustainable trails framework to tier trails-related decision-making while considering ecological, social, economic, and physical indicators. It also involves cultivating and expanding a culture of trail stewardship among local residents and visiting public, increasing the capacity of the Deschutes National Forest (DNF) to manage the trails system sustainably, and engaging with the DNF and the public to support thorough project planning efforts that continue to create a more sustainable trails network.
For more information on DTC please visit: https://www.deschutestrailscoalition.org/
