The national Rails-to-Trails Conservancy Thursday announced the recipients of its 2017 Doppelt Family Trail Development Fund grants, a fund to support small, regional projects that are vital to trail systems but often fall through the cracks of traditional funding streams.

In total, RTC received over $5 million in application requests for the 2017 grant cycle, a number that has increased by nearly $1 million in the past year, demonstrating the growing demand for trail funding in communities nationwide.

In Pennsylvania, the National Road Heritage Corridor is receiving $7,500 for the construction of the Marion segment of the Sheepskin Trail in Fayette County, which will close an existing gap in the Industrial Heartland Trails Coalition's Parkersburg-to-Pittsburgh corridor.

“We are lucky to have the capacity to invest in a handful of these projects through the Doppelt Fund, but the growing need far exceeds the funding available. These projects are vital to the health of local and regional trail systems," said Jeff Doppelt, a philanthropist from Great Neck, New York.

Established in 2015, The Doppelt Family Trail Development Fund is a way to move forward critical projects that enhance health and transportation connectivity in their regions. A listing of all Doppelt Fund grant recipients can be found on RTC's website.

Click Here for a full list of grant recipients.

For more information on rails-to-trails projects in Pennsylvania visit the Rails-To-Trails Conservancy website.  Click Here for the location of the over 1,787 miles of rails-to-trails in Pennsylvania.

(Photo: Sheepskin Trail, Fayette County.)

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[Posted: June 1, 2017]

6/5/2017