(fall '07)ARLEE — The Jocko Valley Trails Association got a boost from the National Parks Service recently, in the form of time with a professional consultant.
“The grant is me,” Gary Weiner said, smiling. “It’s time only.”
Weiner met with the group to help them determine which direction they should go in getting their potential trails system established in the valley. Weiner works for the National Parks Service Rivers and Trails Program, a community assistance arm of the National Parks Service.
Weiner has been working in Missoula on a trails system at the Milltown Dam site. He’d not been north of the county line.
Gary Decker, the chair of the Jocko Trials group, learned about Weiner’s proximity and solicited his participation.
“Most of my work is over here is planning and design assistance on natural resource projects,” Weiner said. Weiner said he works specifically in areas of significant population growth in the West.
“Which means I work in Western Montana,” he smiled.
Weiner told the group there are plenty of resources they can tap into for planning their trails. Organizations like Rails to Trails have become well known in their efforts to create community access paths in the growing west. Weiner said such organizations offer ideas and planning guides for local groups interested in establishing their own systems.
The one thing not so easy to come by, he noted, was money.
“Money is an issue,” he noted.
Weiner mentioned CTEP funds, a state-wide program “that funds transportation related projects designed to strengthen the cultural, aesthetic, and environmental aspects of Montana's intermodal transportation system,” according to the Montana Department of Transportation website. “The Community Transportation Enhancement Program allows for the implementation of a variety of non-traditional projects,” the site says. The Jocko Trails System is a good example of transportation modalities considered.
Horse trails, bike paths, sidewalks, designated routes, and cross country ski trials are all being considered for inclusion in the Jocko project.
“We’re at the dreaming stage,” said Mary Stranahan, a founding member of the group.
Weiner told the gathering that that’s a good place to start.
The trail system “can be anything in terms of planning, anything in terms of design,” he said. And, “anything in terms of scope,” which led Stranahan to ask, “How about 80 miles?”
One dream of the group would be to see a non-motorized trail linking Missoula to Glacier National Park.
Weiner suggested they think a little more local to start.
“You can start teaching yourselves how you can go from point A to B,” he said, telling the group their first step should be a loose plan for a design, followed by contacting land owners where trail easements would be necessary.
“If you have to buy easement with this money it will not go very far,” Weiner said of CTEP funds. Plus, trails created through CTEP funds must meet certain design standards.
“It needs to be handicapped accessible if its CTEP money,” said Weiner.
Easements were an issue with the expansion of Highway 93 through the Arlee area, and MDOT apparently could not get easement for roadside trails. “They do not have the funding,” said Weiner. “But the standard way of doing that is with CTEP money.”
Landowners shouldn’t have to worry about liability if they grant an easement, Weiner said, as “every state has a recreational use statute that holds harmless private land owners.”
Another pool of funds the group should look into is the Safe Routes to School Program, Weiner said. The state administers $1 million of federal funds for communities to designate non-motorized travel routes to and from schools.
The more “hooks” a path has, the better its chances of being funded through one source or another, Weiner emphasized. Trails can help with promoting public health, reducing air pollution, allowing safe routes to school, reducing obesity and heart disease levels through walking and other taglines that would make them eligible for grants form various groups.
“Most times when you’re talking a trail you want as many uses as possible,” Weiner said.
Weiner said his services are available to the group, but urged them to pursue as much of the background work as possible themselves.
“We want to help successful projects succeed, but you have to know what you want from us,” Weiner said.
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