Tahoe trails need your help to win $33k for improved recreation; vote on Facebook

Out of more than 100 applications from around the country, Corral Trail located in South Lake Tahoe, Calif. was chosen as one of four “flow trails” to be voted on Bell Helmet’s Facebook page.

The other two trail types selected were pump tracks/bike park and downhill. Bell Helmets is offering up to $100,000 in technical assistance grants to fund three new mountain bike projects to be built by International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA) Trail Solutions through the Bell Built Grant.

“We’re the only trail in California or Nevada that has been nominated for this spectacular opportunity, TAMBA Trails Director, Ben Fish,” said. “And the only flow trail project on the West Coast which is a great honor.”

“Corral Trail is currently for first place with Vermont on Bell’s Facebook page. We only have four-days-to-go … and we’re not giving up, we want to want this grant more than anything” Fish said. “This trail attracts thousands of riders each year and TAMBA members, along with volunteers from all over come up to help work on the trail in their free-time and I can’t thank them enough. This grant would mean so much to riders of all ages and abilities that respect and enjoy this trail – and especially our economy, here at Lake Tahoe.”

The grant will create national exposure for Corral Trail and Lake Tahoe will be the focus of national attention in the filming and promoted as a mountain bike destination by both IMBA and Easton Bell Sports Company.
“Tahoe is not just a tourist destination, but a place where people work, play and raise families. Our economy depends on our visitors and this has outstanding marketing potential for Tahoe’s summer recreational activities,” Fish explained.

According to Fish, in the past two years TAMBA and more than 50 riders have provided time and input with the U.S. Forest Service on what Corral Trail’s features, [more than 30] will include. To learn more, visit www.TAMBA.org.

IMBA and their Trail Solutions team of professional trail builders, with involvement and assistance from local volunteers, will lead the build this spring if Tahoe’s Corral Trail wins the Facebook contest.

“Once complete, Corral Trail will be a model for how trails with mountain-bike-specific-features should properly be built in National forests around the country,” Fish said. “And, as a resident of Tahoe, who’s entire family rides, maintaining positive partnership between TAMBA and the U.S. Forest Service will help us now and for generations to come.”

The final grant recipients will be chosen based on a combination of public vote and input from Bell and IMBA staff and announced at the Sea Otter Classic in Monterey, Calif., on April 19.

Brian Judge has been an avid mountain biker for 33-years and riding Corral Trail for more than 20. He’s just one of the many TAMBA volunteers who trail build each year and are depending on this project to help current eroding trails … “making them more sustainable.”

“When this trail gets improved with private money on public lands, it will serve as an example of future trail projects on public land within the Tahoe area,” he said. “This is a great example of a public private partnership: Forest Service public land, approved mountain bike specific features, private monetary investment from Bell Helmets and TAMBA coordinating the effort.”

To vote, visit: www.facebook.com/bellbikehelmets. For more information, visit www.TAMBA.org.