Monmouth College has received a grant of $131,216 from the federal Recreational Trails Program (RTP), Gov. George H. Ryan announced March 2.

“Securing the grant funds for the trail project was a real team effort by faculty, administration, staff and federal and state legislative friends of Monmouth College,” said college president Richard F. Giese, who gave special thanks to Ken Cramer, biology department chair; Pete Loomis, physical plant director; Susan Dagit, director of advancement for corporate and foundation gifts; and Dick Valentine, vice president for external relations.

“They were instrumental in developing and promoting this exciting project that will benefit both our students and the community of Monmouth,” added Giese. “We also are grateful for the strong bipartisan support we received from our federal representative, Lane Evans (D), our state representative, Don Moffitt (R) and our state senator, Carl Hawkinson (R).”

The funds will be used to develop an 8-foot wide, 1.25-mile loop trail at the college’s LeSuer Nature Preserve on the northeast edge of town. Funding for the grant comes from the RTP and is administered by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) in cooperation with the Illinois Department of Transportation. The college was one of 14 grant recipients statewide.

“We needed this grant to really do things the way we wanted to do them,” said Dagit.

David Sellman, the senior grant administrator with the IDNR, said that Monmouth’s application received high marks.

“The college did well in meeting our criteria,” he said, referring to the fact that the money would be used to create a new trail and that support amenities such as public restrooms were available. “We were also impressed with the maintenance capabilities of the college.”

The proposal says “the trail will (have) a surface of creek gravel. Two bridges – a low-water bridge large enough to support trail maintenance equipment and a 50-foot footbridge that will not impact water flow – will be built across Markham Creek. The trail will provide access to hiking and areas of ecological restoration.” The trail will loop around the college’s nature preserve as well as Peacock Memorial Athletic Park.

“From its conception, the LeSuer Nature Preserve was designed with a goal of serving the public as an educational and recreational area, as well as to preserve and restore habitat for native species,” said Cramer. “While restoration of native plants has been ongoing, this grant provides us with a great opportunity to increase public access and use of the area. We want people to be able to see and enjoy the streams, woods and tall-grass prairie on this preserve and the trail and bridges built with this grant money will enable folks to do just that.”

Released by the Office of College Communications
Barry McNamara, Associate Director of College Communications
Phone: 309-457-2117
Fax: 309-457-2330

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