Increased Funding for NCNST

November 26, 2001
by Bob Papp

The NCTA was successful in securing a $150,000 increase in federal base funding for the North Country Trail in 2002! This means, through our advocacy efforts, we've now increased base federal funding by about 143% in the past two years. Although this is great news, there are a couple of things to keep in mind.

One is that we view this increase as a little tentative. The paperwork has come through, yet the entire federal budget is a little unstable. There is a slight chance we may still see across the board cuts or reductions in new money. Most likely, such reductions will not happen, though.

Another thing you should know is that this increase of $150,000 actually was less than half of what we had been seeking. As you'll recall, our plan had been to use the full increase to permanently fund the Trail Foreman position, increase grants to Chapters and Partners, and implement four new regional support centers. With less than half of the requested increase being granted, obviously we can't do everything.

Lastly, with two substantial increases in a row and the entire federal budget suddenly tightening up, we may have some difficulty acquiring another increase in the near future. ALso, we've been able to convince Senators and Representatives to support these increases in large part because we have been able to demonstrate our success at matching federal dollars. With federal funding increasing more than 140% in two years, our private support (dues, donations, grants, volunteer hours, etc.) has not kept up. Until we can pull our private support higher, we'll have a harder time convincing fiscal conservatives that increased funding of the North Country Trail is a good investment on federal dollars.