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Deschutes Trails Coalition closes stewardship grants, county OKs $17,248 to keep paid trail crew working
Summary
The Deschutes Trails Coalition reported completion of nine stewardship projects funded from a $600,000 transient lodging grant; the county approved use of $17,248 in unspent grant funds to support the Coalition's paid trail crew amid a funding gap.
The Deschutes County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously May 21 to allow the Deschutes Trails Coalition to use $17,248 of remaining stewardship grant funds to support its paid trail crew.
At a board presentation, Jana Johnson, executive director of the Deschutes Trails Coalition, told commissioners the coalition had completed nine projects funded through a 2022 transient lodging grant. The work included trail improvements, accessible trail design and volunteer stewardship programs. “We were intended to be sort of a value‑added resource to the Forest Service trail crew, but they currently don’t have one, and that's unlikely to change in the foreseeable future,” Johnson said, describing the paid crew as the only professional trail crew in Central Oregon.
The coalition’s original 2022 award totaled $600,000; Johnson said $17,248 remains after project closeout. She asked the board to amend contract 2022‑187 to let the coalition use the leftover funds to cover trail crew operations after other expected federal and Title II support failed to materialize this year. Coalition staff told the board they face a roughly $240,000 gap for crew funding after anticipated Great American Outdoors Act and Title II distributions did not arrive.
Commissioners discussed options for directing how the leftover funds would be used. Commissioner Gregor Chang suggested an approach that rewarded grantees who completed projects under budget by using a portion of the remaining funds to implement parts of the designs those groups produced, while also supporting maintenance where needed. Chang proposed directing the DTC trail crew to carry out work that specifically benefits groups that saved money in the grant cycle — for example, completing new trail segments near equestrian corrals or implementing shovel‑ready maintenance near Newberry Monument designs.
After discussion the board moved to amend contract 2022‑187 to allow the Deschutes Trails Coalition to use the $17,248 for trail crew operations; the motion passed with recorded votes in favor. Commissioners said they were pleased with the grant results overall and noted the county would follow up on the outlying project that some commissioners said stretched the original grant intent.
The county will record the contract amendment and monitor how the remaining funds are allocated to crew work that geographically and programmatically ties back to the original stewardship projects. Johnson said the coalition will continue to seek additional grants and partnerships to sustain its paid trail crew beyond the one‑time reinvestment.
