The Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee has been awarded a $35,000 development grant from the county’s tourism office to further research and lay the groundwork for a bike trail that would connect Canby with Molalla, its neighbor 10 miles to the southwest.
The program by Clackamas County Tourism & Cultural Affairs is aimed at assisting local communities and organizations in funding projects that “benefit the greater public interests of tourism development.” Awards range from a minimum of $5,000 up to a quarter of a million.
In announcing the award, Councilor Greg Parker credited the work and vision of Bike and Ped Committee Chair Mindy Montecucco, as well as “Canby’s No. 1 grant getter.”
The next steps will need to include coordination between Bike and Ped as well as the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board.
A longtime goal of Montecucco and other city leaders, the planned bike and pedestrian walkway would extend the existing logging road trail, which is a holdover from the real, historical logging road used by Weyerhauser to transport raw timber from the Molalla forest to the Willamette River north of Canby.
A donation from the Traverso family in 2017 brought the possibility of adding an additional three miles to the existing trail — which would effectively double its length and bring the city about two-thirds of the way to restoring the Canby/Molalla connection.
But the Traverso portion is unpaved and will need additional work and development to bring it in line with the existing trail.