Helper City played hosted to a Utah Outdoor Recreation Grant workshop on Thursday. The purpose of the workshop was to provide guidance on applying for the 2019 grant program sponsored by the Office of Outdoor Recreation. The mission of the Office of Outdoor Recreation is to ensure all Utahns can live an active and healthy lifestyle through outdoor recreation.
The workshop was hosted by Tara McKee, program manager, along with Danielle Haddad and Rose Smith. They covered the grant process and encouraged everyone to apply for funding. One key take away from the training was the economic benefit communities may experience from such efforts. A community may extend its tourism season by exploring winter options, for example, or efforts may focus on increasing tourism in general to an area. Rural Utah is a program priority, especially areas such as Carbon and Emery counties, which are unexplored recreational areas.
In conjunction with the Outdoor Recreation presentation, National Park Service representative Brandon Stocksdale also presented regarding the services NPS can also provide to encourage outdoor recreation. In the case of NPS, they do not provide funding, but actively connect projects to funding sources and encourage other “connections” to groups which can facilitate projects.
“The Utah Outdoor Grant is an amazing program which Helper has benefited from on river restoration,” said Helper City Mayor Lenise Peterman. “The entire Office of Outdoor Recreation is an invaluable asset to assisting rural Utah to economically diversify by highlighting our natural assets.”
Peterman continued, “Helper has also worked extensively with NPS in putting together a master plan for increasing recreational opportunities in our area. Brandon and NPS have increased awareness of our area and created strategic partnerships with diverse groups. I cannot speak more highly of two organizations helping us move our community forward.”
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- Photos by Traci Bishop
