Nonprofits, Towns, Public Agencies Welcome to Apply
The Quabbin-to-Cardigan Partnership (Q2C) has opened the application window for its 2014 round of grants to support trail projects in the “Quabbin-to-Cardigan” region of western New Hampshire and north-central Massachusetts.
Nonprofit groups, towns and public agencies are welcome to apply for grants to develop new trails, maintain or restore existing trails, develop or rehabilitate trailside and trailhead facilities, acquire land or easements for trail-related purposes and other activities that directly support these purposes.
The Q2C region spans 100 miles from the Quabbin Reservoir northward to the southern boundary of the White Mountain National Forest, and is bounded to the east and west by the Merrimack and Connecticut River Valleys. Encompassing approximately two million acres, the Q2C region is one of the largest remaining areas of intact, interconnected, ecologically significant forest in central New England, and is a key headwater of the Merrimack and Connecticut rivers.
Launched in 2003, the Quabbin-to-Cardigan Partnership is a collaborative effort of more than 20 private organizations and public agencies working on land conservation in the Q2C landscape. The Partnership’s Land Conservation Grants program underwrites transaction costs – appraisals, surveys, title research, staff time, etc. -- on key land conservation transactions in the region. Since 2009 the grants program has funded 49 separate projects that have conserved almost 15,000 acres of land.
In 2013 the Q2C Partnership began offering small grants to support the development, improvement, maintenance and permanent protection of hiking trails in the Q2C region. As with the land conservation grants program, the trail grants are awarded through a competitive process, and are available for projects in both the New Hampshire and Massachusetts portions of the Q2C region.
In its first round in the summer of 2013, the Q2C Trail Grants program funded seven projects totaling almost $50,000. The grants funded work on more than 16 miles of hiking trails in the region, and other trail enhancements projects like trail maps, kiosks, etc.
Completed applications for the 2014 grant round must be received no later than 5 p.m. on Friday, March 14, 2014. Successful grant applicants will be notified in early April. For questions regarding the grant program and the application process, contact Chris Wells at (603) 224-9945 x355 or cwells@forestsociety.org. Application guidelines and materials are available on the “grants” section of the Q2C Partnership’s website: www.q2cpartnership.org.
The Q2C Trail Grants program is privately funded and administered by the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests on behalf of the Quabbin-to-Cardigan Partnership.