(Spirit Lake)– The Dickinson County Trails Association has been awarded grants totaling more than 437-thousand dollars.
Yvonne Taylor, President of the Dickinson County Trails Association, says 387,800-dollars is from the Iowa Federal Recreational Trails Program, with another 50-thousand from the Iowa D-N-R’s Resource Enhancement and Protection Program (REAP).
Taylor says the money will be used to connect the existing spine trail east of the East Okoboji Slough and Hill Avenue, crossing the Iowa Northwestern Railroad right-of-way to Peoria Avenue, running behind St. Margaret Cemetary to 240th Avenue. The grants will also fund a section of trail inside Templar and Marble Beach State Parks. The segments will be 10-feet wide paved sections.
Taylor says the trails on the west side of Big Spirit Lake are part of a long-term plan of providing trail encircling Big Spirit Lake, connecting with planned trails in Jackson county, Minnesota.
Construction on the new segments will likely begin after October 1st of this year.
The new two miles of trails will bring the total of off-road paved trail in Dickinson county to nearly 20 miles.
