Stillwater Legacy Trails

It started with public comments during a 2008 county-wide growth survey about the desire for more walking and bike paths.
Fast forward eight years and a walking/biking path is in place from cemetery to the corner of Quarry Street.
A newly formed group has even bigger dreams and a plan of action.
Stillwater Legacy Trails is a non-profit group with a mission of connecting the communities in Stillwater County with safe walking/riding trails one mile at a time.
It’s going to take money to reach that goal and the group is embracing that reality head-on with the slogan of putting the “fun” into funding walking/biking paths throughout the entire county through community-based events.
Through a combination of fundraising and grants, the group is aiming to further a portion of the trail every two years, said group founder Jill Exner.
To start the ball rolling, Stillwater Legacy Trails is holding a membership drive. Family memberships are $25, single memberships are $15 and business memberships are $50. Exner said the group will hold three to four community-minded fun events throughout the year, starting with this Halloween.
Money raised will go towards meeting matching fund grants.
Membership forms can be found at the Stillwater Legacy Trails Facebook page and returned to either Parks Real Estate or P.O. Box 305, Columbus, Mont., 59019.

THE BEGINNING
In response to the public comments during the 2008 county growth survey, the Columbus-Stillwater County City-County Planning Board directed staff to look into establishing a trail plan for the Columbus area.
In 2010 a public hearing was held for the public to give input on what the planning staff had developed.
The plan was then sent to the Columbus City Council for approval, at which time it was adopted and implemented into the city’s capital improvement program, city-county long-term planning process and subdivision review.
In 2012 a Community Transportation Enhancement Project (CTEP) grant was awarded for the project. Stillwater County was the local administer of the CTEP funds.