This week the Ohio Department of Natural Resources conditionally awarded the Marion County Park District a $500,000 Clean Ohio Trails Fund grant. The grant will be used to extend the paved surface of the Marion Tallgrass Trail by an additional three miles in 2015, adding to what is being paved in 2014.
The grant is conditional because ODNR grants must be approved by the Controlling Board of the State of Ohio.
Kokosing Construction is currently working with CT Consultants to add 3.5 miles of pavement to the trail. This section, which will open by November 2, 2014, stretches from near the trailhead at 2093 Holland Road West in Marion Township to Espyville Road in Big Island Township. Road crossings include Herr Road and State Route 203.
By the time of the ribbon cutting and dedication ceremony at noon on Friday, November 7, 2014 the paved trail will be 3.7 miles long.
With the newly announced grant, the 2015 addition will stretch the trail another three miles crossing Schmidt Road and Agosta-Meeker Road North, ending near Agosta Northern Road in Montgomery Township. The western end of the trail in 2015 will be about a mile north of the village of New Bloomington.
The Tallgrass Trail is intended for non-motorized recreation, including walking, jogging, bicycling, roller blading, and cross country skiing. The trail is fully handicap-accessible. Motor vehicles are not permitted, except motorized wheelchairs.
“I am really excited that there is such great support for the trail,” said trail supporter Jennifer Knotts. “This is such a an amazing treasure in our community, and to know that we continue to gain financial support makes me proud to be a part of the progress being made on the trail.” Knotts serves as a trustee of the Prairie Parks Foundation, a 501(c)3 organization that raises funds to support projects of the Marion County Parks.
The $500,000 grant for 2015 required a $167,000 local match, all provided by donations. The Marion Community Foundation led the way, providing $150,000 of the necessary $167,000. The Marion Rotary Foundation donated $80,000 to trail efforts over several years, and Rotary members joined the Friends of the Prairie Parks in clearing a primitive trail.
“The Tallgrass Trail has really been a grassroots effort,” said Marion County Park District board chairman Dan Sheridan. “Hundreds of people and many organizations have donated money or hours of work to make this possible. In addition to Marion Community Foundation and the Rotary Club, the Heart of Ohio Tailwinds Bicycle Club, Nucor Steel, Johnston Supply, Alloway, National Lime and Stone, and the Evelyn E. Walter Foundation are just a few of our very generous supporters.”
Sheridan added “While we have the local match in hand for 2015, we continue to raise funds for future sections. The Marion Community Foundation has pledged to match the next $50,000 that we raise between now and Sept. 30, 2015. Coupled with grant funds, this means that each dollar donated grows into eight dollars for the trail. We know that grants will be available again next year, and we don’t want to leave grant money on the table because we don’t have the local matching funds.”
Tax-deductible donations for the trail can be made to the Prairie Parks Foundation, PO Box 651, Marion, OH, 43301.
The Clean Ohio Trails Fund program is a competitive grant program, and is part of the Clean Ohio Fund that was authorized by Ohio voters in 2000 and renewed in 2008. The Trails Fund works to improve outdoor recreational opportunities for Ohioans by funding trails for outdoor pursuits of all kinds.
The trail corridor first came into use as the Chicago and Atlantic railroad in 1883, and continued to be used as a railroad under various names until April, 1976., when Conrail assumed the operations of the Erie Lackawanna Railway and closed down the line.
12.4 miles of this abandoned rail corridor were purchased by the Marion County Park District in 2009, using donations and a Clean Ohio Green Space fund grant. The park district built a nature center and parking lot later that year, and added a quarter mile paved “demonstration section” in 2010. The park district also converted two old railroad bridges to pedestrian/bicycle bridges at that time.
The trail will eventually stretch to the Hardin County line.
In addition to the Tallgrass Trail, the Marion County Park District also owns Terradise Nature Preserve, Greenspur, Caledonia Nature Preserve, and Myers Woods. The park district has no employees because an operating levy failed on the 2014 primary ballot. All work is done by volunteers, and the district is governed by five volunteer commissioners appointed by the Marion County Family Court. The park district is not part of, but is supported by, the Marion County government.
For more information, visit www.marioncountyparks.info, call the park district answering machine at 740-223-4161, or search for “Marion Tallgrass Trail” on Facebook.
Want to help? The Marion County Park District offered these ideas:
- Make a tax-deductible donation to the Prairie Parks Foundation, PO Box 651, Marion, OH, 43301.
- Purchase an engraved paver ($100 or $200) for installation in the walkway at the trailhead. Order forms are available on the side of the information board at the trailhead, or at www.marioncountyparks.info
- Volunteer for a trail work crew, to help clear additional trail during the winter months when vegetation is not as thick. Contact Dick Cooper at (419) 845-2742.
- Volunteers with skid steers or other machines that can be use to help clear the trail corridor are especially welcome, and will be reimbursed for gas that is used.
- Carry a trash bag as you walk along the trail, and pick up any litter that you see. (The county park district has no employees, so all work is done by volunteers.)
- Keep others safe by tossing fallen branches off the trail.
- Organize a weekly walking or bicycling outing along the trail and invite others to join you.
- Report suspicious activities to the Marion County Sheriff’s office at (740) 382-8244
- Report trail safety or maintenance concerns via the answering machine at the park office (740-223-4161). This machine is checked about once a week by a volunteer. For quicker results, send an e-mail via the “contact us” link on the park district web site at www.marioncountyparks.info.
- Plant and maintain small prairie plant beds at intersections where the trail crosses roads. The plants will be donated by Natives in Harmony Prairie Nursery.
- Volunteer to check the park district answering machine daily and relay important messages or concerns to Dan Sheridan.
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