Media contact: Eleanor Blick
IMBA Director of Communications
(720) 900-4622

(BOULDER, Colo., October 8, 2025) — The International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA) is pleased to award its eighth round of Trail Accelerator grants to eighteen communities, granting $142,000 to help bring more trails close to home in Kentucky, Idaho, Wisconsin, Virginia, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Arizona, Vermont, California, Illinois, and Nebraska.

IMBA’s Trail Accelerator Grant is a competitive grant offering for communities with visions of transformational model trail systems that need extra support to realize that vision. Projects must show strong partnerships between local leaders, government entities, land managers, property owners, community groups and mountain bike or trail organizations such as IMBA Local member organizations. New for 2025, the Trail Accelerator Grant has two rounds, each focusing on different aspects of trail development. The spring grant window awards professional trail planning and design consultation services. The fall round of grants provides support through IMBA’s education programs: Trail Care Schools, Trail Management Schools, organizational strategic planning consultations, and funding education.

“Trail Accelerator Grants spark momentum—helping communities fund, plan, and build trails that transform places and people,” said David Wiens, IMBA Executive Director. “We’re thrilled to continue this work with eighteen new communities.”

Trail Accelerator Grants have provided $817,000 to 66 communities nationally, leveraging more than $15 million in local support. Trail projects like those in Cedar City, Utah; Patten, Maine; in Appalachia; and in Erwin, Tennessee, have quickly moved from vision to completion by receiving a Trail Accelerator grant and using the resulting professional trail plan to exponentially grow community support.

All eighteen projects awarded in 2025 will bring better trails close to home for the local community. This increased local access will offer health benefits to residents, boost outdoor recreation economies, bring trail recreation to places with none, and offer opportunities for youth to get outdoors.

2025 IMBA Trail Accelerator Grant Projects

2025 Trail Accelerator Grantees for Planning and Design

Richmond, KY — Madison County Adventure Trails
The Bluegrass Chapter of KyMBA and the City of Richmond will use a Trail Accelerator Grant to design 6.7 miles of new trails at the Richmond Regional Sports Complex. Features include a NICA race-ready loop, progressive riding elements, and adaptive access, positioning Richmond as a hub for inclusive mountain biking and youth racing. 

Pocatello, ID — Pocatello Trails Plan
Pocatello will apply its grant to assess and improve the 40-mile trail system within the 3,000-acre City Creek Management Area. The project will engage the community in shaping safer, more accessible trails and lay the groundwork for future connections, benefiting youth teams, families, and all trail users.

Brandenburg, KY — Otter Creek Recreation Area
Meade County will use its grant to assess and expand trails in the 2,300-acre Otter Creek Recreation Area. Plans include six miles of new multi-skill trails designed with community input and ecological stewardship in mind, strengthening recreation, wellness, and tourism for nearby metro areas and military families.

St. Croix Falls, WI — Big Oak Update
The Woolly Bike Club will reimagine the Big Oak trail system with beginner and advanced options to balance its current intermediate focus. Additions include gravity runs, a kid-friendly pump track, and new singletrack, creating a family-friendly trailhead connected to schools while boosting the local economy.

2025 Trail Accelerator Grantees for Education: Trail Care Schools

Arlington, VA — Trail Care School
MORE will use a Trail Accelerator Grant to train its volunteer trail liaisons in sustainable design and maintenance. The program includes dedicated spots for women leaders, building on successful inclusion efforts, while strengthening skills and confidence to maintain high-quality trails long term.

Chattanooga, TN — Trail Care School
SORBA Chattanooga will host a Trail Care School at Enterprise South Nature Park with 20 participants, including land managers, volunteers, and partners. Training will focus on crew leadership, demonstration projects, and a maintenance playbook, creating consistent standards across 100+ miles of trails and pathways to future trail jobs.

Easton, PA — Trail Care School
Valley Mountain Bikers (VMB) will host a 20-person Trail Care School to train ambassadors, volunteers, and land managers in sustainable trail practices. The program will improve maintenance across six trail systems, strengthen partnerships, and expand VMB’s capacity to lead new projects for its 250 members and thousands of local riders.

2025 Trail Accelerator Grantees for Education: Strategic Planning

Buena Vista, CO — Strategic Planning
Buena Vista Singletrack Coalition (BVSC), steward of the town’s world-class trails, has received an IMBA Trail Accelerator Grant to launch a strategic plan. With IMBA’s support, BVSC will strengthen partnerships, expand its volunteer base, and build a sustainable future for heavily used and much-loved local trails.

Surprise, AZ — Strategic Planning
The West Valley Trails Alliance (WVTA) has been awarded a Trail Accelerator Grant to guide strategic planning as the West Phoenix Valley rapidly grows. With IMBA’s help, WVTA will formalize its advocacy, expand community support, and ensure world-class trail access remains central to the region’s future.

2025 Trail Accelerator Grantees for Education: Funding Services

Waterbury, VT — Vermont Huts & Trails
Awarded a Trail Accelerator Grant for Funding Education, Vermont Huts & Trails will build fundraising capacity to support a year-round, adaptive-friendly trail network connecting Randolph and Rochester.

California — CAMTB
The California Mountain Biking Coalition will use its grant to develop a strategic fundraising roadmap for its Annual Impact Fund, strengthening statewide advocacy for trails, cycling, and public lands.

Victor, ID — Mountain Bike the Tetons
Mountain Bike the Tetons will receive fundraising support to advance the Victor Bike Park Revival, redesigning the community’s only free bike park into an inclusive hub for riders of all ages and abilities.

Madison, WI — CORP Trails
CORP Trails will use its grant to build a strong fundraising strategy for a new skills park in Prairie du Sac, featuring progressive features like rock gardens, drops, and teeter-totters for all skill levels.

Chicago, IL — Friends of Big Marsh
Friends of Big Marsh will receive fundraising coaching to support a free urban bike park and trail system, serving primarily low-income and communities of color with accessible recreation and programming.

2025 Trail Accelerator Grantees - Restricted Funding Awards

The International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA) has awarded Trail Accelerator Grants to Omaha-based Trails Have Our Respect (THOR), made possible by a Nebraska funder committed to serving marginalized communities. The grants support trail planning, design, and education projects that expand recreation access and reflect local priorities. By directing funds to Nebraska, this partner ensures trail investments benefit communities that have historically had fewer opportunities to shape outdoor spaces. With THOR’s leadership and IMBA’s expertise, the effort highlights how state and community funders can play a vital role in advancing equitable trail development. IMBA encourages other funders to explore similar partnerships through the Trail Accelerator Grant program to ensure trail investments reach the communities that need them most.

Winnebago, NE — Bike Park & Trails
The Winnebago Tribe, with THOR, is planning bike-optimized trails and a community bike park. The project emphasizes youth engagement, outdoor learning, and cultural connection while laying the groundwork for future recreation, jobs, and investment.

Omaha, NE — Lake Cunningham Bike Playground & Trails
THOR, the City of Omaha, the Lake Cunningham Trust, and IMBA Trail Solutions are planning 12 miles of singletrack with pump tracks, a bike playground, and skill zones. The project will make Lake Cunningham a regional hub for inclusive, family-friendly riding and outdoor education.

Ponca, NE — Trail Care School
A Trail Accelerator Grant will support training at Ponca State Park, equipping staff and volunteers with sustainable trail maintenance skills to strengthen Nebraska State Parks’ trail systems statewide.

Omaha, NE — Funding Education Services
IMBA is helping THOR build long-term fundraising capacity through tailored education, capital campaign strategy, and funding prospect guidance to sustain future trail development across the region.

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About IMBA: 
The International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA) is a 501c3 nonprofit that creates, enhances and protects great places to ride mountain bikes. IMBA is focused on Leading With Trails, growing the quantity and quality of mountain bike trail communities, so everyone has access to close-to-home riding and recreation as well as iconic backcountry experiences. Since 1988, IMBA has been partnering with communities and land managers worldwide to encourage low-impact riding, grassroots advocacy and education, sustainable trail solutions and stewardship, innovative land management practices, and cooperation among trail user groups. IMBA’s international network of hundreds of thousands of supporters includes hundreds of Local Member organizations across the U.S., led by community trail champions, passionate riders and dedicated volunteers working together for the benefit of the entire community.