Commission Meeting Agenda Item No. 4
Presenter: Trey Cooksey

Action
Texas Statewide Recreational Trail Grants Funding
Recommended Approval of Trail Construction, Renovation, and Acquisition Projects
May 26, 2022

I.      Executive Summary:  With this item, the staff seeks approval from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission (Commission) to award federal funds allocated under the National Recreational Trails Fund (NRTF) grants for trail construction, renovation, and acquisition projects.  This approval obligates federal National Recreational Trails Fund money to eligible trail projects based upon the recommendations of the Texas Statewide Trails Advisory Committee. 

II.     Discussion:  The NRTF is funded by a portion of the federal gas tax generated by gasoline purchases to utilize recreational off-highway vehicles (OHV), such as off-road motorcycles and four-wheelers.  The purpose of the NRTF is to provide funding for projects that create new and maintain existing motorized and non-motorized recreational trails.  These federal funds are administered by the Federal Highway Administration and distributed to states via a formula that considers state population and sales of fuel for off-road recreational vehicles.  Nationwide, $85 million was appropriated for the program for federal Fiscal Year 2022; Texas’ share of these funds is $3,954,874.  Seven percent of the state’s annual apportionment ($279,638) is utilized to cover costs to administer the program, leaving $3,675,236 to fund projects.  There was a carryover amount from 2021 of $720,371 for motorized projects.  Several projects funded in previous years were completed under budget and four projects were cancelled, creating another $700,000 available for re-allocation this year.  The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department has been utilizing the re-allocated funding to fund trail improvements in state parks. The result is a total of $5,095,607 of federal funding available to fund eligible trail construction projects.

The program has an annual deadline of February 1^st for local sponsors to submit trail funding proposals.  Fifty-three projects were submitted for funding consideration requesting $15,228,200 in funds. Projects were evaluated and scored by the Texas Trails Advisory Committee.  Recommendations are to fund 17 of the projects, totaling $4,800,900 of federal funding assistance.

The Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (which created this funding) stipulates that states must have a trails advisory committee made up of various trail user-group representatives to be eligible to receive the federal funds.  The purpose of the trails advisory committee is to provide guidance in the distribution of these funds.  The nine-member Texas Statewide Trails Advisory Committee met via conference call in March 2022 to review the submitted trail project applications and develop a list of recommended projects for funding.  Each project was reviewed by the advisory committee and scored based on the quality of the project, its cost effectiveness, its impact on recreational trail opportunities, and the geographic distribution of funds.  Exhibit A contains the list of submitted projects, with funds requested, project descriptions, project scoring, and advisory committee funding recommendations.

An NRTF requirement is that 30 percent of the funds be spent on motorized recreational trail projects, 30 percent on non-motorized trail projects, and the remaining 40 percent be designated as discretionary.  Because few public park entities in Texas provide opportunities for motorized trail riding, it is typically difficult to generate enough motorized trail proposals to meet the 30 percent motorized trail mandate.  As such, the grant funding limit for motorized proposals is $600,000 per project versus $300,000 for non-motorized proposals.  

III.   Recommendation:  The staff recommends the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission adopt the following motion:

"Funding for 17 projects recommended in Exhibit A in the amount of $4,800,900 and state park trail improvements in the amount of $700,000 is approved."

Commission Agenda Item No. 4
Exhibit A

Ranking of 2022 Recreational Trails Grant Proposals

*Projects in bold indicate motorized request*              Total Requests = $15,228,200  

Total Recommended = $4,800,900