The North Dakota Parks and Recreation Department is opening the Recreation Trails Program grant cycle May 3-31. The RTP is an 80/20 matching grant program that provides funding for motorized and non-motorized recreational trail projects.

This program is administered at the state level through the North Dakota Parks with guidance from the Recreational Trails Program Advisory Council, and federally through the Federal Highway Administration. New this year, the applications have been moved to a new online platform, Web Grants.

Applicants may request grant amounts ranging from a minimum of $10,000 up to a maximum of $250,000, and project sponsors must have at least 20% match available at the time of the application. Eligible projects consist of constructing new recreation trails; restoration of existing trails; development and rehabilitation of trailside and trailhead facilities and trail linkages; purchase and lease of recreational trail construction and maintenance equipment; land acquisition/easements; and trail accessibility assessment.

The agency received 20 applications for the Recreation Trails Grant Program during the previous grant cycle, totaling $2,586,792.92 in project fund grant requests. The Recreational Trails Program was allocated approximately $1 million to award through the Federal Highway Administration. The RTP Advisory Committee ranked and selected nine projects that were allocated funding this year, including the City of Harvey Pedestrian Pathway and the Bottineau Park District Foresty Park Trail.