The grant, from the Colorado-based Bikes Belong Coalition, will help HPT buy a Ditch Witch, a small piece of power equipment to move earth, said Bob Marhefke, the group’s chief operating officer. HPT needs to raise a total of $20,000, he said.
HPT maintains 8 to 10 miles of hiking and biking trails in Upper Hixon Forest. It has plans to add 8 to 10 more miles of trails in that area, including the Medary Quarry property recently acquired by the Mississippi Valley Conservancy.

According to Bikes Belong, “the new trails will be geared at beginner and intermediate mountain bikers as well as trail runners and hikers, and will link to 10 miles of existing HPT-built trails, eventually doubling the size of the system.”

Marhefke said the group has been building and maintaining trails with hand tools for several years. The Ditch Witch will help them build environmentally stable trails that hold up over time, he said. “A properly made trail doesn’t require as much maintenance.”

HPT applied for the grant with the help of Southwest Badger Resource Conservation & Development Council Inc., which promotes natural resource conservation, managed growth and sustainable rural economic development in a nine-county area.

The $10,000 is one of four grants awarded by Bikes Belong, which has given out nearly $1.3 million in grants helping finance nearly 1,400 miles of bike paths and trails.

For more information, check out www.humanpoweredtrails.com, www.bikesbelong.org and www.swbadger.com.

Reid Magney can be reached at (608) 791-8211 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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