Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Budget topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Division seeks funding for education specialist, children—s grant and $1.3M regional trail crew
Summary
Director Jason Curry outlined the division—s legislative requests: $100,000 total for an education specialist (split between OHV and boating accounts), a $200,000 Utah Children—s Outdoor Recreation and Education Grant, and a $1.3 million regional trail crew program ($400,000 OHV; $900,000 infrastructure account) to address trail maintenance backlog and safety concerns.
Director Jason Curry presented the Division of Outdoor Recreation—s priorities in Governor Cox—s budget recommendations. The division requested funding for three priorities: an outdoor recreation education specialist (proposed $50,000 from the OHV restricted account and $50,000 from the boating restricted account), a Utah Children—s Outdoor Recreation and Education Grant (UCOR) seeking $200,000 from the Outdoor Adventure Infrastructure restricted account, and a regional trail crew program with a $1.3 million request (proposed split: $400,000 from the OHV account and $900,000 from the infrastructure account).
Curry said the education specialist would restore in-house training and hands-on operator courses for youth and adult OHV safety and support initiatives like Every Kid Outdoors. He described the UCOR grant as a program that previously awarded $100,000 (in 2019) but drew more than $600,000 in requests; the division is requesting $200,000 to expand the program and to provide scholarships and gear to low-income families.
On the trail crew request, Curry said the state faces a multi-million-dollar trail maintenance backlog (he referenced an early Forest Service estimate of about $49 million) and described the proposal as a train‑the‑trainer model with 5 full-time employees, about 24 seasonal employees, and equipment and vehicle needs. The division emphasized these are restricted-account funds that require legislative authorization to spend in the proposed ways and that the requests are meant to address public-safety and maintenance deficits across motorized and non-motorized trails.
