On November 21st, The Massachusetts Department of Conservation & Recreation announced the recipients of the 2013 Recreational Trails Program grants, and ECTA is one of 32 grant award winners! The $20,700 grant will be used to improve & expand the trail network on both sides of County Road in Ipswich.
The grant will cover the much needed improvements to the existing trails at the Ipswich River Watershed Association, including:
Repair of several sections of muddy trail
Stabilization of the bank at the canoe launch area
Extension of the trail east of the IRWA campus
Expansion of the trail network at the site of the Riverbend Estate gardens
We will also be creating a new trail at the currently inaccessible Greenbelt parcel across County Road.
The RTP grant will cover the cost of the negotiation of trail easements that ECTA hopes will connect Riverbend trails to Appleton Farms and Lakeman’s Lane, as well as any trail improvements needed on these easements once they are secured.
This grant requires a match of $9,200 from ECTA. This match will be funded in part by a Stewardship Grant from REI which we received earlier this year, and in part by volunteers. We held our first colunteer work day for this project on November 9th. (Click here to see pictures from this event). We plan to hold another volunteer work day in the spring of 2014 to continue work at the Greenbelt property.
