Note from the funders:Alrhough this grant was accepted, the application is not on the preferred form. It includes information that is not relevant to the project. (we are familiar with the trails and their location). Past/future grants have no effect on our decisions. In general, we want to know what the project is, .how the volunteers are involved n this project., and that reasonable costs have been considede

The Mt Jewett to Kinzua Bridge (MJ2KB) Trail Club is a non-profit 501(c)(3)organization. Our club has signed an agreement with Headwaters Charitable Trust to be stewards of 2 sections of the Knox Kane Rail Trail (KKRT). Although the entire length of the KKRT is 74 miles (from Clarion County to McKean County), we are responsible for 7.5 miles of trail. About half of this section of the trail is completed and already seeing lots of trail users. The section of trail from Mt Jewett to US Route 219 (Lantz Corners) is what our club is now developing. This “piece” of the KKRT links the recently completed rail trail with the segment of rail-trail that continues through Kane, Russell City, Marienville onto Clarion.

The MJ2KB Trail Club received a grant award in 2018 from the North Central PA Regional Planning & Development Greenways Fund for material to repair three old wooden RR trestles along the section of the Knox Kane Rail Trail (KKRT) between Mt Jewett and Lantz Corners. We completed this project timely (2 ½ months) by a handful of volunteers from our trail club. This project demanded our attention as it was definitely a safety hazard for trail users and workers. (See attached photos).

With that behind us, our next project that needs to be completed before moving forward with trail surfacing is replacing sluice pipes underneath the KKRT and ditch work along our section of the corridor. For this project, a partial grant award was recommended to our club by the McKean County Planning Commission. We are pursuing additional grant money for the balance of funds needed to complete this project from the Doppelt Grant (rails-to-trails conservancy) or from DCNR’s Community Conservation Partnerships Program Grants. Having said all that, the trail club desperately needs a tractor and mowing equipment to continue “opening up” the trail, improving and maintaining the trail surface. This is our main request for funding. We do not have the funds to cover the expense to purchase a tractor, and we are hoping the Trail Volunteer Fund will help us out with this expense. The effectiveness of the tractor to one man’s labor is 1-30. In other words, mowing or weed trimming would take a volunteer approximately one month to complete, where operating the tractor with a mower, the project would take one day to finish. We have a local equipment business that has provided our club with an outstanding deal for a new tractor. This is a good thing, as we have had a hard time finding a reasonably priced used tractor in our area. We really hate to depend on used equipment that may need repairs soon after purchasing it. Additional maintenance equipment (ie, backhoe, flail mower, drag/grader) can be attached to this tractor. (The trail club has a (donated) 3pt hitch grader-drag to be used with a 30 hp tractor to level and widen the trail.) This tractor and additional equipment will benefit our volunteers many times over. The cost of the tractor is $XX,XXX. Besides purchasing a tractor, our trail club also needs a mower that can keep the grass, weeds & shrubs cut back along the shoulders of the trail; where currently there is the heavy brush that needs removed (see attached photos). This would certainly increase the efficiency of our retired volunteers, by removing the burden of clearing the edges manually. Once the rail trail is opened-up, then regular maintenance will be much more manageable. With the combination of the tractor and a mower, our volunteers will have the ability to manage the 7.5 miles o

What will the volunteers do:

What Are You Asking the Fund to Provide:

Grant funded January 2019