Whiterock Conservancy celebrated Earth Day in style yesterday, as more than 50 people gathered to help celebrate and break ground on the organization’s highly anticipated backcountry trail project.

Executive Director Conrad Kramer says the groundbreaking event signified a “big day” for Whiterock Conservancy.

“We’ve raising money for five years to build this extraordinary, state-of-the-art soft trail, this backcountry trail so that we can open up Whiterock Conservancy’s huge, 5,000-acre wild backcountry to the people of Iowa, and so it is a big day for us.  We finally raised the money and we’re finally starting construction… spending almost $2 million this year to build this incredible trail that we think will be the best destination trail in Iowa and the best mountain bike trail in 400 miles.”

Back in October, Kramer told Raccoon Valley Radio he anticipated that the 35 miles of backcountry trail would be open to the public by the spring of 2015, but he now says riders can expect to use at least portions of the trail by the middle of this summer.

Kramer says he anticipates Whiterock Conservancy having a grand opening celebration for its trail project sometime in September.