East side gets a State Grant

Grant will allow work on Shawnee forest trails
By Tom Barker, The Southern
Tuesday, July 21, 2009 11:48 PM CDT


HARRISBURG - A grant awarded to Shawnee National Forest and Shawnee Trails Conservancy will allow for improvement on equestrian and hiker trails, the Forest Service announced Thursday.

Patti Laubscher, representing STC, helped write the state grant application and submitted letters of support from local groups and politicians, including Southernmost Illinois Tourism Bureau, Congressman John Shimkus and Sen. Dick Durbin.

"This is something I just saw that needed to be done and I did a lot of reading and research and figured out how to do it," Laubscher said.

The $127,900 trail improvement grant, awarded by Illinois' Recreational Trail Program, will be used to improve approximately nine miles of the River-To-River/American Discovery Trail in the Hidden Springs Ranger District, in three segments selected by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. The segments include West Bay Creek, about three miles west of Eddyville, and the Buzzard Roost and Eagle Creek areas, located to the east and west of the High Knob Recreation Area, near Herod.

The project will cost a total $159,900, including the state grant, $24,000 from the Forest Service and $8,000 from the STC, which Laubscher acquired from the Illinois Equine Industry Research and Promotion Board.

The Forest Service initially applied for a grant to fund over $400,000 worth of trail improvements, repairs for an additional 12 to 13 miles of trail, but was not awarded the full amount by the state. The funds are still available, however, and Laubscher encourages anyone who is in support of trail restoration at the Shawnee to contact state legislators.

"We have very worthy projects down here that are ready to go," she said. "We're just waiting for the money."

According to Hidden Springs District Ranger Tim Pohlman, the grant is the largest the Shawnee National Forest has received in some time. The money will allow for a large and frequently traveled section of the trail to be drained and resurfaced, providing proper maintenance while protecting sensitive natural resources.

Work on the trails will begin as early as this fall or next spring.