Paved walking path proposed at Beaver Creek Park

Work is moving forward to build a walking path in Beaver Creek Park, and representatives of two groups talked about options at Monday’s Hill County Park Board meeting.

A class at Montana State University-Northern prepared an analysis of the proposed path for the board, and Pam Lemer of Bear Paw Development Corp. said some funding options may be available to help.

The study gave a projected cost of $1 million to $1.3 million for the path, proposed to be paved and handicap-accessible. Lemer said some savings on that projection might be possible.

“I think there’s a little bit of wiggle room,” she said.

She said a state program — the Recreational Trails Program — might be one source of funds. Lemer said that last year the state appropriated $1.3 million for the program, generally given out in smaller grants ranging from about $25,000 to two $90,000 grants.

Another possibility would be a federal highway program, which took the place of the Community Transportation Enhancement Program and is administered by the state Department of Transportation, as CTEP was. If that program is renewed, the proposed walking path would meet its requirements, Lemer said.

She said the program gave grants up to $500,000 in its first cycle.

“They don’t have a cap on what you can ask for,” she said.

Samantha Rybicki, outreach manager for Opportunity Link Inc.’s Vibrant Futures program, said that program would help the park board try to create the path.

Vibrant Futures Montana, funded through a U.S. Housing and Urban Development grant, is a consortium of 11 counties and three Indian reservations in north-central Montana working together to plan and coordinate efforts to make improvements in the region.

Rybicki said creating walking and biking paths are a top priority for many groups and entities in the consortium, brought up repeatedly in the more than 30 times Vibrant Futures staff members have gone out to find what communities want.

“Time and time again it has been said they want trails,” she said. “They want tourism trails, they want bicycle trails, they want trail systems that connect, they want trails for health, for everything.”

She said the work Vibrant Futures has done can be used to support Hill County in its planning and applications for funding.

“We’ve done a lot of the public input that you have to cite … you will be able to use this document for getting money,” Rybicki said.

She said the program also can help the park board connect with technical service providers and connections with other groups that could provide support.

The fact that Hill County already is part of the consortium will give some additional weight on federal applications, Rybicki said.