Well, it looks like we’ve reached another milestone this week.

We broke the 500 Likes marker!

In the world of Facebook, that may not sound like much, but it means a lot to us and we’d just like to say thank you to each of you for giving us support, as well as donating time, money, and/or encouragement along the way.

It was only a couple of years ago that we held our first meeting in the deli of Ingles in Cleveland and since that time we’ve done a lot!

• Joined forces with Northeast Georgia SORBA to develop a coordinated front for the establishment and maintenance of multi-use trails in the 11 county area of northeast Georgia.
• Worked with White County and the Georgia Department of Natural Resources to secure the 1,000 acres of Yonah Preserve as a recreation site.
• Established a formal memorandum of understanding with White County to build, maintain, and market a multi-use trail system. We’d also like to say a special thanks to the White County Board of Commissioners for their unwavering support of this project.
• Coordinated with Trail Solutions, the trail construction arm of the International Mountain Bicycling Association, to design the conceptual trail layout for the Yonah Preserve trail system.
• Created an online presence with the development of our Facebook page and this website you’re reading now!
• Applied for and received $95,000 of grant funding through the Recreational Trails Program (RTP) for construction of Phase I of Yonah Preserve Trails, which will bring the first 3.5 miles of trails into reality.
• Currently selecting a trail construction organization to establish and mark a formal trail layout for Phase I so that we can begin trail construction in earnest.
• Applied for $100,000 of grant funding for Phase II. We’ll be keeping our fingers crossed over the next couple months to be hearing some good news about that grant application from the RTP folks.
• Initiated and continue construction of the Tesnatee Creek Trail at the White County YMCA.
• Provide trail maintenance to existing multi-use trails in White County including Unicoi State Park, Hickory Nut Trail, as well as other trail systems in the area.
• Provide support to the White County National Interscholastic Cycling Association (NICA). By the way, these kids rock…or we should say roll!
• Support cycling and outdoor related activities in White County including the Trans North Georgia race, GoneRiding MTB race in Unicoi State Park, and Beyond the Grave event.
• And of course all of this takes money. We’ve been able to raise approximately $10,000 to support our organization through yard sales, vegetable sales, t shirt sales, and solicitation of donations from public organizations, private companies, and the general public.

If you think that’s a lot of work for a group with 500 friends on Facebook, just imagine what we could do with 1,000 friends!

Help us keep this momentum going by sharing this post with the people you know and recommending that they like our page.

Thanks again for being our friend and supporting Yonah Preserve Trails.
(article submitted by Chris Ernst)