Doppelt Family Trail Development Fund
Jeff Doppelt on the 2019 Trailblazer Tour on the Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail
Overview
RTC launched a grant program from 2015-2021 to support organizations and local governments that are implementing projects to build and improve multi-use trails. Under the Doppelt Family Trail Development Fund, RTC will award approximately $85,000 per year, distributed among several qualifying projects, through a competitive process. The fund was established with an $80,000 grant from Jeff Doppelt of Great Neck, New York, a long-time supporter of RTC and the development of rail-trails in the United States, and an additional $20,000 donation from an anonymous donor.
2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015
2021 grant recipients:
- Headwaters Trail System (Montana): $10,000
- Northwest Nebraska Trails Association (Nebraska): $10,000
- Peninsula Trails Coalition (Washington): $10,000
- Rail-to-Trails of Wayne County (Ohio): $10,000
- Cedar Trails Partnership (Iowa): $10,000
- Yellowstone Historic Center (Montana): $10,000
2020 Grant Recipients:
- Missouri Rock Island Trail, Inc. (Missouri): $20,000 to help meet funding gaps to repair two trestles that could open 43 miles of seamless trail to the public.
- Armstrong Trails (Pennsylvania): $35,000
- Groundwork Jacksonville, Inc. (Florida): $30,000 for a critical trail connectivity project in Duval County, supporting construction of the first segment of the Emerald Trail, a planned 30-mile urban trail system in Jacksonville.
- Bike Easy (Louisiana): $5,000 for the formation of the Bootlace Trail Network Coalition to lead the build-out of the trail project across Orleans, St. Tammany, Jefferson, St. Bernard and St. John the Baptist parishes.
- Lafayette Consolidated Government (Louisiana): $5,000 for a future trail along North Saint Antonine Street is set to connect historically disadvantaged communities to parks, recreational opportunities and the downtown employment center on a piece of disused rail line running through neighborhoods with low personal car ownership but few sidewalks.
- Rail-Trail Council of Northeastern Pennsylvania (Pennsylvania): $5,000 to open the Brady Tunnel in Clarion County, enabling a link between communities at the disjointed 4.5-mile northern section of trail and the southern 31-mile portion connecting East Brady and Ford City.
2019 Grant Recipients:
- Greater Arkansas River Nature Association (Colorado): $5,000 for marketing and project coordination activities, including map and audio tour development, for the Stage & Rail Trail, a planned 70-mile trail between Leadville and Salida.
- Putnam Blueways & Trails Citizen Support Organization (Florida): $5,000 for maintenance along three rail-trails extending 28 miles through Putnam County.
- City of Union Point (Georgia): $15,000 to help meet the match for a state grant received to construct one of three “model miles” for the Firefly Trail, a developing 39-mile rail-trail that will eventually connect Athens with Union Point.
- City of Farragut (Iowa): $15,000 to close the final fundraising gap for the restoration of three bridges and paving of a former rail corridor for the Admiral Trail, which will eventually connect to the Wabash Trace Nature Trail.
- Friends of the Bourne Rail Trail (Massachusetts): $15,000 for design services for the Bourne Rail Trail, a future rail-with-trail that will be a critical link in a developing trail network on Cape Cod.
- TART Trails (Michigan): $5,000 for development of a brand marketing plan and fundraising feasibility study for the Traverse City-Charlevoix Trail, a 46-mile gap in a nearly 325-mile trail network.
- Midtown Greenway Coalition (Minnesota): $10,000 to organize neighborhoods and citizens to advocate for a rail-with-trail extension of the Midtown Greenway over the Mississippi River via an existing rail bridge.
- Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest-Butte Ranger District (Montana): $27,500 for the installation of solar lighting in a former railroad tunnel along the Milwaukee Road Rail-Trail, part of the Great American Rail-Trail.
- Mountain Heritage, Inc. (Virginia): $25,000 for the restoration of a former railroad trestle with an innovative shipping container technique, enabling the extension of the Mendota Trail.
- Cascade Bicycle Club (Washington): $10,000 for efforts to raise community awareness and engagement of the 42-mile Eastside Rail Corridor Trail, which will eventually connect much of King County.
2018 Grant Recipients
- City of Dayton (Ohio), receiving $15,000, which will serve as a federal funding match for the acquisition of a former rail corridor that will eventually be home to a new trail, The Flight Line.
- Dallas County Conservation Board (Iowa), receiving $15,000 for the acquisition of six parcels of land required to extend the iconic High Trestle Trail to the Raccoon River Valley Trail north of Des Moines.
- Friends of Clare County Parks & Recreation (Michigan), receiving $5,000 to increase support for an off-road alignment of the Pere Marquette Rail Trail through Clare.
- Marin County Bicycle Coalition (California), receiving $5,000 to promote efforts to convert the closed Alto Tunnel into a crucial trail link through Marin County.
- Rock Island Rail Corridor Authority (Missouri), receiving $25,000 for the Greenwood Connector, which will help to build the final 8-mile trail segment to complete a statewide trail connecting St. Louis to Kansas City via the Katy and Rock Island trails.
- Western New York Land Conservancy, Inc., receiving $10,000 to conduct a design competition to convert a former rail line in Buffalo into a trail and linear park.
- New Jersey Bike & Walk Coalition, receiving $7,500 to build support for the Ice & Iron Greenway, a future rail-trail through densely populated and underserved communities in North Jersey.
- Rutherford County Government (North Carolina), receiving $30,000 for trail enhancements that will improve and encourage trail use, including the development of crosswalks and fencing; installation of educational kiosks and signs; and construction of wildlife viewing stations along an extension of the Thermal Belt Rail-Trail.
- Southwest Renewal Foundation of High Point, Inc. (North Carolina), receiving $10,000 to increase capacity for the future Southwest High Point Greenway, including outreach expenses and matching funds for additional grants.
2017 Grant Recipients
- Colorado Springs Parks, Recreation, and Cultural Services (Colorado), receiving $35,000 to complete Phase 1 of the Legacy Loop, a comprehensive multiuse trail project that will improve connectivity and accessibility for over 120,000 families living within 2 miles of the project in the heart of Colorado Springs
- Tillamook Forest Heritage Trust (Oregon), receiving $30,000 to support analysis of the social-economic benefits associated with the 86-mile Salmonberry Trail
- Wyoming Pathways (Idaho, Montana and Wyoming), receiving $20,000 to support the opening of the Greater Yellowstone Trail, a 180-mile pathway and rail-trail route that connects Jackson Hole, Wyoming, to West Yellowstone, Montana, via small towns in eastern Idaho
- National Road Heritage Corridor (Pennsylvania), receiving $7,500 for the construction of the Marion Segment of the Sheepskin Trail, which will close an existing gap in the Industrial Heartland Trails Coalition’s Parkersburg-to-Pittsburgh corridor
- Detroit Greenways Coalition (Michigan), receiving $5,000 to support the Inner Circle Greenway in Highland Park, the largest urban trail project within the state of Michigan
- Cowboy Trail West, Inc. (Nebraska), receiving $5,000 to support a 15-mile expansion of the Cowboy Trail from Gordon to Rushville
2016 Grant Recipients
- Cross Vermont Trail Association (Vermont): $25,000 to help construct a new 200-foot bridge over a large river and another 600 feet of trestle bridge, both of which are needed to span a gap in the corridor of the former Montpelier-Wells River Railroad which is otherwise mostly available for use as a trail. The gap, a physical bottleneck, is the most difficult problem in the statewide Cross Vermont Trail route.
- Allegheny Trail Alliance (Pennsylvania): $20,000 to the Allegheny Trail Alliance for repair of the Pinkerton Tunnel, which created a continuous rail-trail connection through a section of the 150-mile Great Allegheny Passage, eliminating a 1.5-mile detour upon the tunnel’s opening in 2015. This award is a continuation of a 2015 award, and we are thrilled that Doppelt funds from both years contributed significantly to the restoration of the spectacular tunnel.
- Fort Wayne Trails, Inc. (Indiana): $20,000 to help construct a new portion of Fort Wayne’s Pufferbelly Trail, which will ultimately span more than 80 miles primarily along a former railway corridor. The new trail segment will include an above-grade crossing of a major road on the footings of an old railroad bridge, as well as a trail spur to Franke Park and the Fort Wayne Childrens’ Zoo, two of the most popular regional attractions.
- Gallatin Valley Land Trust (Montana): $15,000 to improve the 1.5-mile Gallagator Trail in the heart of Bozeman, Montana, including the rehabilitation of three ailing trail bridges, repair of interpretive signage and installation of solar-powered trail counters to collect trail usage data.
- Great Shasta Rail Trail Association (California): $10,000 to hire a consultant (or multiple consultants) to assist in the management of grant-funded projects to open more of this trail, which currently spans 37 miles through the mountains of northern California. (Read about the launch of this rail-trail, part of which was made famous in the movie “Stand By Me!”)
- Ecology Action of Santa Cruz (California): $7,500 for the fiscal sponsor of Santa Cruz County Friends of the Rail & Trail to increase education about, and support for, the 32-mile Santa Cruz County Coastal Rail Trail, which will be built parallel to freight and future passenger train service, in advance of a countywide sales tax ballot initiative that has $68 million allocated for the trail.
2015 Grant Recipients
- Allegheny Trail Alliance (Pennsylvania): $40,000 for the renovation of the Pinkerton Tunnel, which will create a continuous rail-trail connection through a section of the Great Allegheny Passage, eliminating a 1.5-mile detour.
- Harrison County Commission (West Virginia): $11,000 to reopen (including tools, labor costs and equipment) the 12-mile Harrison County North Rail Trail—which will close a major gap in West Virginia’s trail network. Scheduled for reopening in Spring 2016, this trail has been closed for several years due to brownfield remediation
- Nebraska Game and Parks Commission (Nebraska): $10,000 to engage communities along 126 miles of undeveloped corridor to complete the Cowboy Recreation and Nature Trail in Northwest Nebraska, while developing a strategy for economic development opportunities along the trail.
- Redbank Valley Trails Association (Pennsylvania): $8,000 to help build and provide the limestone surfacing for a 1-mile section (in a 9-mile gap) of the Redbank Valley Rail Trail, a connection of the Armstrong and Erie to Pittsburgh trails.
- Missouri Rock Island Trail, Inc. (Missouri): $7,500 to support trail development on a 145-mile segment of the inactive Rock Island Line in Missouri, which will eventually be a crucial part of a 384-mile cross-state trail system linking St. Louis and Kansas City; an additional $7,500 will be used for trail consulting services.
- Erie to Pittsburgh Trail Alliance, Inc. (EPTA) (Pennsylvania): $1,000 to help match a $10,000 grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources for completion of a three-year strategic plan (and 2016-2017 work plan) for the Erie to Pittsburgh Trail.