A project between two counties on the Raccoon River Valley Trail has hit the halfway point in securing the funding.

Greene County Conservation Board Director Tanner Scheuermann says the 14 mile stretch of the trail between Greene and Guthrie Counties is looking to be repaved, and received the maximum amount for a Land and Water Conservation Fund Grant of $250,000 that the Guthrie County Conservation Board applied for. 

“We were going, you know, obviously optimistic, but we weren’t really sure what we were going to get. So we went into the grant reviewing committee, kind of gave our pitch for the project, and out of 11 projects in the state of Iowa, we scored number one for that grant. So we were very surprised of that.” 

Scheuermann tells Raccoon Valley Radio with that grant, which is funded by the National Parks Service and administered by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, and a Legacy Grant from Grow Greene County Gaming Corporation that allocates $125,000 over four years for a total of $500,000, has allowed their project to reach the half-way mark for funding. He recalls his reaction when GGCGC announced them as one of the largest competitive grant recipients at the award ceremony this past April.

“When we got up on stage and they announced the funding that we got, we were all very surprised, almost to the point of tears. We’ve put a lot of blood, sweat, and tears into this project. So when we get the support like those folks at Grow Greene (County Gaming Corporation) and Wild Rose (Casino and Resort in Jefferson) gave us for this project, it’s very overwhelming to have that support.”

Scheuermann appreciates the work from WHKS Engineering for their designing, creating the project documents, and grant writing; they have also reduced the overall price of the project from $5.1 million to just over $4 million. He adds that since the Greene County Conservation Board partnered with the Guthrie County Conservation Board two years ago to prioritize repaving the 14 miles on the trail, to have raised half of the total amount is astonishing. He says there are several other federal and state grants that they are applying for, as well as lining up local commitments from businesses and grants.