Garrett Trails is one step closer to completing its Eastern Continental Divide Loop Trail. The Garrett County commissioners signed a property-use agreement this week with the University of Maryland Extension, which will allow a nonmotorized trail to be constructed on Western Maryland 4-H Education Center property near Bittinger.
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An agreement is also pending with the Department of Natural Resources that will give the local group permission to construct a trail through the Savage River State Forest for the Meadow Mountain phase of the loop trail.
Garrett Trails members reviewed the agreements for the commissioners and gave an update on some of their many projects on Tuesday afternoon.
"We've made a lot of progress," said Mike Dreisbach, Garrett Trails president. "And I have to tell you, with out the help of the commissioners, this progress would have never been able to make it that far. You guys have been behind us 110 percent."
Since last January, he said, the group has made some "gigantic steps." One of those "steps" is Gov. Martin O'Malley's announcement last Friday that $150,000 is earmarked in the proposed fiscal year 2013 capital budget for state park trail construction in Garrett County. Another $150,000 has been allocated for "western Maryland recreational access and trail restoration."
Garrett Trails is a nonprofit, volunteer organization dedicated to the development of a network of trails that provide access to Garrett County's historic, municipal, and environmental "treasures" that link to trails outside the county.
One of the group's goals is to develop the Eastern Continental Divide Loop Trail, a 150 mile, multi-surface, multi-user pathway that will connect to state parks and forests; populations centers such as Bittinger, Grantsville, Mtn. Lake Park, Friendsville, and Deep Creek Lake; and the Great Allegheny Passage.
Rodney Glotfelty, Trail Maintenance Committee chair, reported on the project's mid-county connector loop at Deep Creek Lake. Garrett Trails plans to construct a pedestrian hard-packed gravel or paved pathway from the Glendale Bridge to Rt. 219, along the same route as a proposed water line.
He said Garrett Trails has been working with the Garrett County Department of Public Utilities and the GC Roads Department to "take advantage" of the waterline extension. After DPU installs the underground line, the pathway could be constructed on top of the finished project.
"You wouldn't have to come in twice, disturb the area twice," Glotfelty said about constructing the trail. "It seemed like a win-win proposal for us."
Garrett Trails sent a letter to 27 Glendale Road property owners last summer, inquiring if they would approve a pathway on their land. The group received 12 responses, with 11 of them favoring the project, according to Glotfelty.
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