Work continues at the Kimball Walking Trail

Volunteers, the City of Kimball

and Kimball County are making

a difference in our community by

creating the Kimball Community

Trail, located at the city property

south of town. Many local citizens

have been involved in the project to

date in a variety of roles clocking in

over 400 volunteer hours. Here are

some highlights of the work and the

people who have donated their time,

equipment and expertise.

With the support of City of Kimball

Administrator Dan Dean, City

Council members and numerous city

employees, work on the trail started

earlier this spring. Dan was responsible

for much of the early legwork

for the trail, including meetings with

government and community entities

and the preliminary map of the trail.

He helped obtain council approval

of the project and organized city employees

and Keep Kimball Beautiful

for cleanup of the area; this required

large equipment for removing abandoned

industrial items.

Kimball County Commissioners

have passed a Resolution in support

of the trail stating it is 'for the

public purpose of bringing additional

recreational activities and opportunities

for citizens to improve health,

well-being and quality of life to the

citizens of Kimball County.' County

employees have volunteered in a

variety of roles.

Volunteers donating their time

and expertise on the Construction

Committee include Dave Hottell,

Ken Vincent, and Dave Haack. These

members have been instrumental in

breaking ground for the trail, working

and re-working the trail base, and

laying out the parking lots. They will

continue volunteering as the

'builders of the trail.' The trail

would not be completed without the

efforts of these volunteers. Dave

Haack and Z & S Construction

employees have also done all of the

work creating a Remote Control

Track in the southeast corner of the

property. Plans for the track include

use by remote control cars, airplanes

and drones.

Two rows of trees have been

planted by Jim Young on the south

border of the property. Jim also

worked the ground in preparation for

the tree planting and laid down weed

barrier ahead of the tree planting. He

will plant more trees in the next few

weeks as the project progresses.

Numerous members of the Kimball

Area Foundation Fund have spent

many hours in organizing meetings,

setting up various committees and

working alongside volunteers.

FFA students, led by Kimball

Public School teacher Sally Wheeler,

have removed dilapidated fencing

on the north edge of the property

and have plans to repair the fencing

on the south property line. A small

group of KPS students picked up

trash on May 1st with their Community

Service Project.

Ryan McElroy piloted his plane

and flew a committee member over

the trail to obtain an aerial photo of

the trail. This provided an amazing

bird's eye view of the trail layout,

which helped committee members

with their vision and development of

the trail.

The Kimball Community Trail

Committee has researched options

and costs from a variety of sources,

both civil engineering firms and a regional contractor, and have opted to move forward with

area resources and volunteers to lower costs while supporting

local businesses.

The campaign is being launched with donations from

The Howard and Peggy Atkins Donor Advised Fund and

from the Erin Aerni Memorial Fund. Future funding will

be from 1:1 matching grants from the Atkins Donor Advised

Fund up to $20,000 raised by the community. Costs

include construction costs, tree planting, mulch, benches

and rest areas, fencing, dog park fencing, maintenance,

expansion and other enhancements.

Checks can be made to Kimball Area Foundation Fund

with Kimball Community Trail in the memo field. Mail to

PO Box 483, Kimball NE 69145 or you can give online

by using this link and selecting Kimball Trails Project

Account.

https://www.nebcommfound.org/give/kimball-areafoundation-

fund . Upon request, project presentations can

be made to your group, organization or family.

For more information or to volunteer, please contact us

at [email protected] or contact one of

these committee members: Lana Anderson 308-225-1948

or Jean Gilbert 406-451-6948.