Poudre River Trail

Poudre River Trail Corridor

NEW SECTION OF POUDRE TRAIL OPENS
Poudre River Trail Corridor, Inc. celebrates the opening of the newest section of the Poudre River Trail with a ribbon-cutting event at 9:00 a.m. Saturday, June 5, 2004, north of Island Grove Regional Park near the Saddle Club.

The Poudre River Trail gained an additional 2-1/2 miles with the recent completion of the trail from Island Grove Regional Park west to 35th Avenue. This stretch of trail was made possible through generous donations of land from the Bucklen and McDowell families. Other portions of this section are on City of Greeley and Weld County property. Funding for the project was provided through Poudre-Big Thompson Legacy Project funds from Great Outdoors Colorado and through a grant of Land and Water Conservation Funds from Colorado State Parks Trails Program. These grants were matched with local funds from private contributions and the City of Greeley.

Through two funding rounds in the 1990s, Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO) awarded the Partners of the Poudre-Big Thompson Legacy Project $5.9 million in lottery funds to assist in completing over $20 million worth of projects along these two Northern Colorado rivers.

Some of the grant projects were ready for immediate implementation. Others, however, were in the conceptual stages and required years of planning and negotiations to complete. The final projects, including this newest section of the Poudre River Trail are now celebrating completion.

Partners in the Poudre-Big Thompson Legacy Project include the City of Fort Collins, City of Greeley, Poudre River Trail Corridor, Inc., City of Loveland, Larimer County, Estes Valley Recreation and Park District, Colorado State Parks, Colorado Division of Wildlife, and The Nature Conservancy.

The projects funded through this Grant moved the partners toward regional integration of recreation needs, open space protection, and habitat preservation in a time of rapid growth. Trail projects included the trail around Lake Estes and sections on both ends of a trail that is hoped to some day go along the Poudre River from northwest of Fort Collins all the way to Greeley. Over 15,000 acres of natural areas and open spaces were protected in the Laramie Foothills, Fort Collins, Loveland, and various areas in Larimer County.

The completion of this part of the trail provides nearly 5 miles of trail from 11th Avenue and D Street in Island Grove Regional Park to Rover Run Dog Park on F Street west of 35th Avenue. Mike Ketterling, chairman of the trail board, stated "The successful construction of this part of the trail is a major step towards completing the trail between Greeley and Windsor and eventually to Fort Collns. It couldn't have happened without the cooperation of the landowners and the grants from the Great Outdoors Colorado Legacy project and Colorado State Trails and our local funding partners."

For more information about the Poudre River Trail contact Karen Scopel, Natural Resources Planner at (970) 350-9783

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