General Motor's HUMMER division and the nonprofit organization Tread Lightly! announced today the launch of a new partnership called HUMMER's Recreation Rescue, which will provide grants to outdoor recreation sites. The grants will be dedicated towards land use education, management and trail maintenance.
"This partnership comes at a critical time, especially for recreation activities involving the use of off-highway vehicles," said Tread Lightly!'s executive director Lori McCullough. "These grants will help land management agencies implement their new travel management policies in a way that helps both recreationists and the great outdoors."
Project sites already selected for 2008 include off-highway vehicle areas in the Sierra National Forest in Central California and the Ocala National Forest in Florida. Other sites are currently under consideration and will be announced by the beginning of summer. Volunteers will be needed to re-seed, install signage and kiosks, build trail enhancements and do other important tasks.
"At a time when public participation in outdoor recreation is at a decline, organizations like Tread Lightly! are extremely important in ensuring that open access to public land remains available for future generations," said Martin Walsh, HUMMER general manager.
HUMMER's Recreation Rescue was created under the umbrella of Tread Lightly!'s Restoration for Recreation program. Restoration for Recreationis designed to keep the great outdoors beautiful, healthy and open to the public by providing much needed resources for trail maintenance, education and communications initiatives to allow for environmentally sustainable outdoor recreation.
The initiative will kick off with a project on the popular Bald Mountain off-highway vehicle (OHV) trail in the Sierra National Forest. Funding and volunteers will help provide trail maintenance, install signage, print quality maps and develop educational outreach.