Photo Opportunity for Bridge Challenge Participants and Volunteers

Please join us this Sunday, January 8 at 1:00PM at the Peoples Road end of the rail bed for a walk and a group photo for the Echo.

Bring your friends and family too.

The Bridge Challenge Is Completed

Thanks to many donors and the hard work of the Ligonier Township Recreation Board, Ligonier Borough and the Loyalhanna Watershed, we met the challenge to raise the $20,000 to complete the Challenge for a matching $20,000. This completes the proposed budget needed to be able to purchase and install a prefabricated bridge across Mill Creek behind Weller Field.

The next step is to prepare the bid requirements and choose a contractor.
We will see the work completed in 2012.
A happy, healthy New Year to you!

Almost Complete - Way To Go!

We're Getting There!

A great jump in our donations this week.
Thanks for the Latrobe Bulletin article by Jen Sopko for getting the word out again.

Bridge Builders Come In ALL Sizes

Thanks to all the donors who have brought us this far in the Bridge Challenge.

We have made a nice jump this week and we hope to be able to show a substantial increase next time we update. We have been working very hard to get the word out, as have you, and we are very happy to have so many supporters on board.For those of you that have not been able to help this time, the trail will have more challenges ahead, and we hope you can join us in building more of the trail in the future.

Thank You!

Please Join Us In Meeting the Challenge to Build the Bridge

Trail Friends and Followers:

We have an opportunity to finish raising our budget for the bridge we need over Mill Creek THIS YEAR. We need you individuals and businesses to come through to raise this $20,000 match.

A version of the letter below has gone out, or is going out, this month. Please read this and share it with your friends and neighbors who also want to see good things happen in Ligonier like you do.

November 2011

Ligonier Valley Trail/Mill Creek Bridge Project in Ligonier

Dear Friends of the Ligonier Valley Trail:

We would like to take this opportunity to invite you to donate toward our end of year fund drive. Through a matching grant that we have secured, your donation will receive a dollar to dollar match up to $20,000.00. We need the additional $40,000, with your donation matched one to one, to complete the fundraising to purchase and install a prefabricated bridge and ramp to connect the Ligonier Valley Trail over Mill Creek. The one to one match and other funding for the bridge will expire on December 31, 2011. The time is now!

Ligonier Borough and Township, and the Loyalhanna Watershed Association are partners in this project. The Forbes Trail Chapter of Trout Unlimited will complete the necessary Mill Creek Stream Restoration & Trout Habitat Reconnection project, to protect and prevent further erosion around the existing historic abutments. The bridge is located next to Ligonier Borough’s Weller Field, the area’s public sports complex, and is very accessible to all local residents. This portion of our trail will have great public visibility, and gain from the accessibility of two municipalities to all the recreation in our area.

The Mill Creek Bridge project takes the historical foundation of the old LVRR railroad bridge and brings it back to life and use for anyone and everyone: a soccer player from the Borough; a carpool mom needing some quiet time; a hotel visitor wanting a bike ride in the countryside; a community group organizing a fundraising road race. Although we have a plan that connects miles of our roads and trails, without the bridge, the trail cannot reach its unlimited potential.

Biking opportunities for youngsters and casual riders in Ligonier are weak at this time. We have a local bicycling community that travels elsewhere for their biking needs. This bridge will provide the foundation for trail growth and activity within our immediate area. Our effort is to make our trail a source of activity for the locals and visitors, therefore providing new business opportunities, strengthening existing ones, raising awareness of our natural and cultural assets, and expanding the length of time and the amount of dollars people spend in the Ligonier Valley. Our future plans, as outlined in the Ligonier Valley Trail Feasibility Study, will generate trails and bikeways in all directions.

The Ligonier Valley Trail creates a major attraction in our Laurel Highlands, and adds one more great reason to live in or visit Ligonier. The Mill Creek Bridge, the project for which we seek your financial assistance, is key to making our dream, our vision, a reality.

Thank you in advance for your tax deductible donation to this valuable project. Donations of $1,000 and above will be recognized at the bridge dedication.

Sincerely,

Please make your check payable to LWA; Memo- Bridge Challenge.

Mail to: LWA, 110 Andi Lane, Ligonier, PA 15658.

For more information, please call Cathy Johnston at 724 238 7560, or email lvtrail@gmail.com

http://ligoniervalleytrail.blogspot.com

Twelve Mini Grants Approved

Ligonier Township Recreation Board is pleased to be one of the groups awarded a grant in the amount of $15,000.00. Our Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor Grant is to go toward the purchase and installation of a prefabricated bridge and ramp at the site of the old Ligonier Valley Railroad bridge in Ligonier for pedestrian and bicycle recreation. This bridge is the key connector to all our recreation areas and allows full use of the railbed from Ligonier Township and Borough. It will fill the gap that we are looking at in the photo below.The following article is reproduced from the Laurel Highlands CLI Volume 3, No. 5 Newsletter of August 18, 2011
The National Road Heritage Corridor and the Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor have awarded 12 grants to nonprofits and municipalities in the Laurel Highlands. Grant funding orginates from the PA Department of Conservation and Natural Resources to support the Laurel Highlands CLI.

Recipients were: Allegheny Ridge Corporation, Casselman River Watershed, City of Greensburg, City of Johnstown, Coal and Coke Trail Chapter, Johnstown Redevelopment Authority, Latrobe Community Revitalization Partnership, Ligonier Township Recreation Board, Mountain Watershed Association, the Progress Fund, Stonycreek Quemahoning Initiative and Wharton Township.

The projects all require at least a one-to-one match, so the grants will leverage more than $100,000 in additional money. Projects were given priority if they were located in communities and parks along four focus landscapes - Laurel Ridge, Chestnut Ridge, the Stonycreek River/Johnstown area, and the Great Allegheny Passage rail trail.

About Conservation Landscape Initiatives

Laurel Highlands Conservation Landscape Initiative