We are delighted to report that the Athens Conservancy received two grants totaling $7,955 this fall from the Ora E. Anderson Conservation Fund for Appalachian Ohio. The bulk of the funding will be used to purchase a critical half-mile section of former B&O rail corridor for the Athens-Belpre Rail-Trail project. This grant completes the funding for that purchase, which is also funded in part by grants from Ohio Health, Camden-Clark Medical Center, Quidel Corp., and over $6000 in private donations (much of it through GoFundMe). The rail-trail section is in Washington County and connects a section owned by Athens County (originally purchased by the Conservancy with Clean Ohio funding) with a CSX-owned section to the east. (The AC is collaborating with ODOT and the Belpre Multi-Use Trail Committee to acquire the latter.)
The second Anderson Fund grant will help pay for the construction of trails in the new Canaan Preserve to connect the trail systems of the Baker Preserve and Strouds Run State Park. This work will be done in partnership with the Buckeye Trail Association. There is currently no trail access to this beautiful new preserve, a situation that this Anderson Fund grant will help remedy in the coming months.