trail clearing technique and tools

[2manyrocks]

You may feel differently about the situation when you feel better.

$4,000 to do what you and your wife think is fun. I suppose you could spend $4,000 a year going on cruises that you might not enjoy as much as your trail work. What else would you want to do if you weren't doing this trail work? How else would you invest or spend this $4,000?

In any small organization, a few people usually do the majority of the work. Outside of TBN members, it's hard to find people that enjoy hard work.

Parking on the road might be solved by having a few cars towed. Word gets around.

My experience with grants is you have to write in their lingo and place your organization squarely within the grant maker's criteria for giving out money. It's a matter of finding a way to show to them that you fit in their mold. You might need to set up a 501c3 organization for the money to flow.

 

[ArlyA]

You may feel differently about the situation when you feel better.

$4,000 to do what you and your wife think is fun. I suppose you could spend $4,000 a year going on cruises that you might not enjoy as much as your trail work. What else would you want to do if you weren't doing this trail work? How else would you invest or spend this $4,000?

In any small organization, a few people usually do the majority of the work. Outside of TBN members, it's hard to find people that enjoy hard work.

Parking on the road might be solved by having a few cars towed. Word gets around.

My experience with grants is you have to write in their lingo and place your organization squarely within the grant maker's criteria for giving out money. It's a matter of finding a way to show to them that you fit in their mold. You might need to set up a 501c3 organization for the money to flow.

We applied for the grant with a 501c3. All machines to operate these trails cost us around $50,000 not 4K. The 6x6 alone was about 30k. My spouse has written and won grants before and knows you need to match their needs.

 

[kenmbz]

Maybe check in with activity groups like cross country ski, mountain biking etc. if you haven't yet.

 

[ArlyA]

Maybe check in with activity groups like cross country ski, mountain biking etc. if you haven't yet.

We applied with a multifaceted philanthropic organization the gives to silent sports agendas here that supports public use. They give away multi millions per year. We will apply with them again this summer but if we get no $$$, we'll start to wonder what we are doing.

 

[airbiscuit]

• Whose property is it?
• What work/materials are needed for making a parking area?
• If it is mostly machine work, perhaps the township would do some of that.
• Maybe local local excavation companies would be willing to donate some equipment time or gravel (especially if they were recognized with a sponsor sign).
• If the parking area is cleared and leveled, does it even need gravel (frozen during the winter)?

 

[dodge man]

I never wrote for grants but in the engineering world we did a lot of them. Sometimes money will get thrown at you, like a water system that needs upgraded, it’s a health issue. Another is a low income area or town. A third is to show revenue. You have an activity that will cost the tax payers money but it fills up hotels, bed and breakfasts, restaurants so there is some payback. Another would be environmental concerns, you will help protect the environment, like a sewage plant.

It’s also important to identify “free money” sources. You can’t get it if you don’t know about it. I’m not sure if you qualify for any of those or not. You and your wife seem like pretty smart people and have probably thought this through. Sometimes the answer is always no.

 

[ArlyA]

• Whose property is it?
• What work/materials are needed for making a parking area?
• If it is mostly machine work, perhaps the township would do some of that.
• Maybe local local excavation companies would be willing to donate some equipment time or gravel (especially if they were recognized with a sponsor sign).
• If the parking area is cleared and leveled, does it even need gravel (frozen during the winter)?

Privet property who sold its public recreation use.
Trees and stumps need to be removed and all nomaly things to gravel a road base.
Township doesn't have enough money to keep there roads up.
Its was bid out and all bids came in about 10,000. In order to ask for any grant, you have to get bids.
We are going to follow codes so it needs to have ditch for drianage and gravled.

 

[John_Mc]

Most of the grants I've seen for this sort of work go toward properties which guarantee public access. They are not going to pour thousands of dollars into private property when the owner has the right to change their mind and decide.

There were a couple of suggestions here that are worth considering. One was to set up a 501c3. ArlyA, you seem to have misinterpreted that as applying to a 501c3 for funds. Setting up your own means that people could contribute to it and get a tax deduction for it (though that has become Of course, there is always the chance that when you try to set up a 501c3 the IRS will challenge that status if the 501c3 is set up simply to make improvements on private property.

You mentioned that you had "applied with a multifaceted philanthropic organization the gives to silent sports agendas here that supports public use." I suspect that what @kenmbz was suggesting is that you make contact directly with those groups. There are two things that could come of this:

1. Many of these groups' members provide volunteer labor to assist with trail maintenance and grooming in exchange for the use of a landowner's property. ("Fellowship of the Wheel" is a mountain biking group that does this sort of thing in our area.) The better groups also police their own members to prevent abuse: they don't want to risk being kicked off the property because a few bad eggs abused the privilege.
2. The other possibility is that you could try applying jointly with those groups for grants for trail maintenance and grooming. Since they are established groups with a track record in the area, a joint application may look better to the grantor. It also confirms to the grantor that others are benefitting from the funds beyond just the landowner.

A couple of other thoughts on grants: a grantor is far less likely to fund something like the purchase of a mower plow, grooming attachment (or ATV or tractor) that will be owned by a private individual. They might be more likely to consider funding something owned by one of those activity groups. It's possible that grants might be available to help fund one of these groups to hire someone to groom their trails. However, I'd bet that hiring a landowner to maintain trails on their own property might raise a few eyebrows (it looks too much like a private individual benefiting from the funding).

 

[ArlyA]

Most of the grants I've seen for this sort of work go toward properties which guarantee public access. They are not going to pour thousands of dollars into private property when the owner has the right to change their mind and decide.

There were a couple of suggestions here that are worth considering. One was to set up a 501c3. ArlyA, you seem to have misinterpreted that as applying to a 501c3 for funds. Setting up your own means that people could contribute to it and get a tax deduction for it (though that has become Of course, there is always the chance that when you try to set up a 501c3 the IRS will challenge that status if the 501c3 is set up simply to make improvements on private property.

You mentioned that you had "applied with a multifaceted philanthropic organization the gives to silent sports agendas here that supports public use." I suspect that what @kenmbz was suggesting is that you make contact directly with those groups. There are two things that could come of this:

1. Many of these groups' members provide volunteer labor to assist with trail maintenance and grooming in exchange for the use of a landowner's property. ("Fellowship of the Wheel" is a mountain biking group that does this sort of thing in our area.) The better groups also police their own members to prevent abuse: they don't want to risk being kicked off the property because a few bad eggs abused the privilege.
2. The other possibility is that you could try applying jointly with those groups for grants for trail maintenance and grooming. Since they are established groups with a track record in the area, a joint application may look better to the grantor. It also confirms to the grantor that others are benefitting from the funds beyond just the landowner.

A couple of other thoughts on grants: a grantor is far less likely to fund something like the purchase of a mower plow, grooming attachment (or ATV or tractor) that will be owned by a private individual. They might be more likely to consider funding something owned by one of those activity groups. It's possible that grants might be available to help fund one of these groups to hire someone to groom their trails. However, I'd bet that hiring a landowner to maintain trails on their own property might raise a few eyebrows (it looks too much like a private individual benefiting from the funding).

This is privet property who sold its public recreation use.

 

[John_Mc]

This is privet property who sold its public recreation use.

If it's still private property (and not owned by a non-profit or similar organization) that makes grants more difficult. Even if the landowner says "I let the public on" grantors know that that permission can be with drawn at any moment. An agreement with some recreation group can bump your project up in the rankings. - even more so if the group applies with you.

 

[ning]

If it's still private property (and not owned by a non-profit or similar organization) that makes grants more difficult. Even if the landowner says "I let the public on" grantors know that that permission can be with drawn at any moment. An agreement with some recreation group can bump your project up in the rankings. - even more so if the group applies with you.

There's literally a perpetual public easement.
The landowner has no ability to withdraw it.

This is similar to conservation easements; it's on the title in perpetuity.

 

[ArlyA]

If it's still private property (and not owned by a non-profit or similar organization) that makes grants more difficult. Even if the landowner says "I let the public on" grantors know that that permission can be with drawn at any moment. An agreement with some recreation group can bump your project up in the rankings. - even more so if the group applies with you.

We (my spouse) has written many grants for trail systems before. Mostly for machines, events and infrastructure. She wrote a bunch to put a bridge in and that was kinda funny because no one asked "who's property is it on?" since it was on privet property, without any usage agreement. It subsequently washed out!

 

[John_Mc]

We (my spouse) has written many grants for trail systems before. Mostly for machines, events and infrastructure. She wrote a bunch to put a bridge in and that was kinda funny because no one asked "who's property is it on?" since it was on privet property, without any usage agreement.

Good luck with it then. I've been on the requesting and as well as on the granting end on several occasions. Just sharing what has affected decision-making when we were awarding grants. It's seldom just a simple yes or no. We ranked the applications, and then started awarding funds until we hit the limit for that round. Anything that helps move an application up in the rankings increase the likelihood of getting funded.

 

[airbiscuit]

Different areas may have different possibilities for donated labor. Around here, I think I could get a few local contractors/excavation companies to donate some machine time - push out some stumps, level an area, do primary grade for entrance road and ditch. Once you get a start, the other comes easier.
That may not be possible for you, but I would try.

 

[2manyrocks]

Whoever holds the grant money has criteria of their own that has to met in their minds before they are going to award funds. The criteria is usually first to filter out the ones who are just trying to take their money for themselves (schemers) or that aren't going to use the money wisely if they get it (dreamers). The grant people want to see that their funds will be put to good use as intended.

Another criteria is the that the money goes to further some cause that they want to assist.

Community participation levels matter. An organization that does a lot for a lot of children in the community, for example, would tend to get funding to help keep user fees affordable or provide free services for low income families. An organization that benefits only a relatively few people wouldn't tend to get as much funding.

The grant people I'm familiar with seem to want to see an organization established and successfully operating, but a grant gives that organization the extra boost to help more people in the community.

 

[ArlyA]

Here is a logging road we might clear this summer to groom for skiing. Does it look dry now?

 

[John_Mc]

Here is a logging road we might clear this summer to groom for skiing. Does it look dry now? View attachment 792254

Looks like much of my property.

I'm not sur ewha smertime conditions are like in that area, but the road appears to be running in the bottom of a slight trough. Maybe it's just how the snow is piled. If it is in a depression that can make for ongoing maintenance problems. Will you have to improve drainage in that area?

 

[ArlyA]

Looks like much of my property.

I'm not sur ewha smertime conditions are like in that area, but the road appears to be running in the bottom of a slight trough. Maybe it's just how the snow is piled. If it is in a depression that can make for ongoing maintenance problems. Will you have to improve drainage in that area?

This is a gravel or rock covered road a logging company built. Nonetheless, our goal is winter use and we've had the warmest and least snowy winter in history here, so I'd guess there is not normally open water. Here is more pics of the same road. Its lots more brushy than my photos show!

 

[two_bit_score]

Good luck on finding some funding to help you keep doing what you are doing for the public good.

 

[ArlyA]

Good luck on finding some funding to help you keep doing what you are doing for the public good.

Thanks. We will reapply over the summer and change it up a tad. People who keep reapplying usually end up with something. I'd add a more complete history below.

We cleared the single-track located here (we can't groom it) about 5 years ago since we liked using them and it was an overgrown mess. That took about 300 hours. (we did have help, maybe 50 hours worth) Being out there so much that summer, we found its summer use was rather low. Maybe one or 2 people per day but folks don't like hiking in the knee tall grass and fern and stick strewn trails. After the word got out they had been cleared and free mutt friendly, our user volume might have doubled or tripled. A few years after that, the largest cross country area in our area clamped down on summer AND winter dog rules, we then gather up enough equipment to run a "winter groomed trail use test" and we financed it 100%. That winter was a resounding success with mostly dog owners which I'd guess was 60% of the total.