A recent grant from the Constitution Pipeline Community Grant Program to Rail-Trail Council of Northeast Pennsylvania for improvements and beautification of the Union Dale Trailhead, and trail improvements on a much-used parallel trail has paid off with visible dividends. Something that was impassable is now a place where the community can keep their bikes, sit and picnic, or just enjoy the outdoors.

“After our grant was approved we had a storm that caused an unusual amount of damage in the form of downed trees. Constitution was kind enough to allow us to divert some of the funds earmarked for beautification of our trailhead to cleanup of the damaged trees. We were able to not just improve the parallel trail, but remove over ten trees that blocked the trail,” said Deb McNamara, with Rail-Trail.

McNamara added that the before and after photos show the true value of the grant and the positive impact it made for an entire community.