Save the RTP Grant Program

[schwalby]

Please take a moment to review this important information and pass this around to your clubs! The NEA has taken advantage of the RTP Grant Program for the benefit of 4x4s and hopefully more 4x4 clubs will have the chance to do this.

This is a FEDERAL program, so this is NOT specific to NH

More info on this from Chris Gamache, NH Trails Bureau Chief:

NH’s Delegation is not listed as members of the committee that would need to make a change to put dedicated funding back into the proposed Highway Bill for RTP; however they should be aware of its impact to NH.

In this day and age the public supports is for repairing the nation’s infrastructure and not use highway funds for other uses; however the RTP is similar to NH’s Grant In Aid program in that is it funds from gas tax on motorized vehicles for their off-highway use. It is not funds from on-road use.

This program has helped fund $1,000,000 of trail grant projects in NH annually for many years and it is the only source of grant funds for many of your organizations. Its loss would be heavily felt in NH. The Senate E & PW Committee has removed its dedicated funding status and sent the bill to the Senate Finance Committee. Once the bill gets rolling the opportunity to save RTP will likely be gone. If it of value to you and your organizations please contact our Congressional Delegation about it.



Chris



Chris Gamache, Chief
NH Bureau of Trails
DRED-Divison of Parks & Recreation
PO Box 1856
Concord, NH 03302-1856

do something now............
Contact Environment and Public Works Committee Members:
Urge Them to Act!

The Recreational Trails Program (RTP), arguably the most important government program ever created to benefit motorized recreation (as well as non-motorized recreation) faces a big hurdle in transportation reauthorization legislation! As you know the RTP funds the development and maintenance of thousands of miles of motorized trails, but without action the RTP may be eliminated.

Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman Barbara Boxer has proposed legislation that will threaten the very existence of RTP and has already passed it out of Committee. It is imperative that we make sure that Chairman Boxer and the other Members of the Environment and Public Works Committee understand how important RTP is to us and to urge them to protect dedicated funding for the RTP in a manager's amendment before the bill moves forward.

Please click the Take Action link below to send an email to the Members of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee encouraging them to act!

TAKE ACTION!

http://www.arra-access.com/site/R?i=VVj ... une6bsYpAg

[schwalby]

Good news from NH Trails Bureau! :hello: :woohoo: :woot:

Dear members of the Statewide Trails Advisory Committee;

Please see the message below from the Coalition for Recreational Trails.

Congratulations also to NH’s trail community who made phenomenal efforts to educate our delegation on the value of NH’s trails and their impacts to people’s lives and local economies. We will continue to follow this as this is not a done deal in any way. However, it does demonstrate that the US House and Senate value trails in states over other items. Please remember to thank Senator Shaheen’s Office for their tremendous assistance with this floor amendment to dedicate RTP for the future.

Chris

Chris Gamache, Chief
NH Bureau of Trails
DRED-Divison of Parks & Recreation
PO Box 1856
Concord, NH 03302-1856
603-271-3254
chris.gamache@dred.state.nh. us
http://www.nhtrails.org

-----Original Message-----
From: Catherine Ahern
Sent: Tuesday, March 13, 2012 7:41 PM
To: Catherine Ahern
Subject: Great News: RTP Success in the Senate!

We are delighted to report that the Manager’s Amendment to MAP-21, the Senate transportation bill, containing a modified version of U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s amendment continuing the Recreational Trails Program essentially unchanged, was accepted this afternoon on the Senate floor. This is a wonderful achievement!

We are very grateful to Sen. Klobuchar (D-MN) and her eight co-sponsors -- Michael Bennet (D-CO), Scott Brown (R -MA), Richard Burr (R-NC), James Risch (R-ID), Bernard Sanders (D-VT), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), and Mark Udall (D-CO). Please be sure to let them know how much the trails community appreciates their leadership and support.

And, of course, we are very grateful to all the members of the CRT and the CRT Council of Advisors, who delivered powerful messages of support for the RTP from all across the country. Congratulations on an incredible effort and an amazing success. Many told us this was an impossible mission, with the Congress and Administration so focused on program consolidation and opposition to non-highway spending. You showed them!

Marianne Fowler and Derrick Crandall
Co-Chairs, Coalition for Recreational Trails