Massachusetts Recreational Trails Program Grant Workshop

 
Friday, September 17th,  2-4pm: Purgatory Chasm State Park (Sutton)
Sat., September 18th, 10-12pm: Great Falls Discovery Center (Turner’s Falls)
 
The Department of Conservation and Recreation will be holding a workshop to discuss the Recreational Trails Program and its upcoming grant round with applications due November 1, 2010. 
The Recreational Trails Program (RTP) provides funds to non-profit organizations, municipal, state, and federal land managers to develop and maintain recreational trails and trail-related facilities for both nonmotorized and motorized recreational trail uses.  RTP grants are 80-20 challenge grants. In other words, 80% of the project costs are reimbursed to grantees, but at least 20% of the total project value must come from other sources (local match).   There is a minimum award amount $2,000 and a maximum of $50,000.  More money may be available for multi-town, regional projects.  The Recreational Trails Program allocates 30% of its funds to motorized use, 30% to non-motorized use, and 40% to diverse use projects.
The workshop will go over the program requirements for the RTP, discuss the scoring criteria,  provide examples and presentations on successful grant projects and provide feedback and answer any questions that potential applicants may have about the program or about their specific projects and how they fall within the requirements of the program.
The workshop will be hosted by Amanda Lewis, Recreational Trails Program Coordinator.  Please call or email to register for the workshop by Friday, September 10th.