Pledges so far (why are these people pledging? Read the whole post):

• Anonymous: $50
• Barb Armstrong: $20
• Gary Ataman: $20
• Shannon & Scott Bentley: $100
• John Boxall: $100
• The Cornish Family: $100
• J-P DeCouvreur: $100
• Mike Danilko: $50
• Kent Edmunds: $50
• Pam Groenwold: $30
• Tom Hawks: $100
• Dale Irwin: $25
• Dave Jefferey: $40
• Gary Johnson: $50
• Mark Linford: $50
• Colin Mackie: $100
• Jeff Martinek: $40
• Ron Martinelli: $50
• Jeff Maybee: $100
• Beverley Mawby: $50
• Jason Murray: $100
• Keith Musgrave: $20
• Ron Near: $100
• Ray Pardon: $50
• Sue Pot: $50
• Terry Sinclair: $50
• Steve Snodden: $50
• Mike Sweet: $100
• Dave Taylor: $50
• Roy Thomas: $50
• Jon Watts: $100

As part of the economic stimulus package the Federal Government allocated $25 million in funds to go towards trails. The call for applications happened on May 26th and the full details of the program are finally available.

Sadly the DMBA can’t apply for funding directly because our incorporation application is still being processed and isn’t likely to be finished in time. However we (the DMBA directors) put out some feelers to some other people and groups who are interesting in having trails built. Gladly there was some interest.

The TRCA is leading the application with the DMBA, ORTA, Uxbridge Horsemen’s Association and Sustainable Trails partnering. We are applying for funding for a $20,000 project to put in a new section of trail to the West of the South-East (aka Townline aka 3 Rocks) parking lot. If anyone is familiar with the 7 Sisters trail this will replace a large portion of it, closing the current badly eroded fall line sections and moving the trail further North into the woods. I was involved in flagging the route, and it will be a fun intermediate trail. The construction was put on hold due to lack of funding and the ongoing refresh of the East Duffins Headwaters management plan.

This is a chance for the DMBA to be part of getting a trail built this year that otherwise might not get built for a long time if at all. We have the chance to leverage a small amount of money into much more significant funds to get another 1km to 1.5km built at one of our favourite riding locations. This is also a chance to show, not only the TRCA, but other stakeholders in the area that we are serious about our commitment to the land and the trails on it. We’ve been making excellent progress with the Durham Forest, let’s make similar progress in Glen Major.

The cost of the project is $20k. The federal funding will only cover a maximum of 50% of that. So between the TRCA, us and some other benefactors we have to come up with $10k.  The others involved realize that the DMBA doesn’t have a very large annual budget and what money we do have is pretty much exclusively targeted at insurance, permits and other costs of operation, not projects of this sort. We’re more than willing to pledge volunteer effort in-lieu and have done so to the tune of 200 hours. (That may seem like a lot, but we collectively contributed more than 150 in our recent Durham Forest build and that was only a one day effort.) Unfortunately in-lieu donations don’t count towards the matching funds clause of the funding. While volunteer time in-lieu raises the chance your application will be successful, they (the feds) want to see cold hard cash.

So the directors decided that we’d put out a call for donations to the members and see how much we could raise for this project. We’d like to raise between $1000 and $2000 dollars. I’m willing to pledge $100. Tom Hawks has also pledged $100. We’ve had a few others say they would pledge as well. We’re on our way, but we need the help of the other 150 DMBA members if we’re going to reach our goal. Please contribute what you can. $5, $10, $20 or more if you can spare it. Your $10 donation could get you 1.5km of new trail that cost $20k to build. That’s 2000 times leverage!

Time is of the essence. The application must be submitted by the end of June. In order to do that we have to know how much we are going to be able to contribute by Friday June 19. We are not asking for any money at this time. This is a pledge only and would be called in only after our application is accepted and the project started. This would likely be sometime late summer or early fall. It is possible our application could be turned down and we don’t need your pledge at all.

Please send your pledge to me. Let me know how much you’d like to contribute and if you want your name published on the DMBA website or to be listed as anonymous.