The Municipality of Chatham-Kent has received a $2,000 grant from Trans Canada Trail (TCT) for the further development of its section of The Great Trail of Canada.
Municipal officials say the grant, bestowed as part of TCT’s Spring Cleanup Grant Program, was intended to support cleanup and maintenance events along The Great Trail that traverses the municipality.
Although the COVID-19 pandemic means an event cannot take place, the grant will now go towards maintenance to help ensure physical distancing.
While Chatham-Kent Trails Council President Dianne Flook is saddened that the Chatham-Kent Trails Council cannot take part in a Trail Clean up event she said, “I’m thankful for CK trails because they accommodate social distancing, fresh air and exercise- I walk a CK trail almost every day and many other CK residents do too.”
TCT has been a generous partner of Chatham-Kent in establishing its section of The Great Trail, Municipal officials say.
Since 2018, TCT has granted $102,000 to Chatham-Kent for trail development.
In 2018, $50,000 was granted for the development of the CASO Trail in Ridgetown, while a second grant of $50,000 was also received at the same time for the Greenfield Global Trail.
TCT is the non-profit organization that funds the further development of The Great Trail (formerly known as the Trans Canada Trail).
The Great Trail now stretches over 27,000 km from coast to coast to coast, and links 15,000 communities across Canada.
The Municipality of Chatham-Kent maintains over 214.45 km of The Great Trail, which supports walking, hiking, cycling and road cycling, Municipal officials added.
A section of The Great Trail runs along the former CASO rail corridor (the CASO Trail) that travels through Highgate, Ridgetown to Fargo.
Phase One of the CASO Trail, which extends between Kent Bridge Road to Erie Street North in Ridgetown, was completed in 2018.
The received funding will be used to support maintenance on this Trail section.
Phase Two and Three of the CASO trail are expected to be completed by the end of 2021 which would extend the current 5.5-km section into an 11-km Rail Trail.
