New provincial funding saw almost $900,000 dollars in grants given to 35 trail projects in Manitoba, last week. The Stanley Trail Association was happy to receive $75,000 through the first round for the 2020-21 Trails Manitoba Grant Program which has been funded by the Manitoba government through the Manitoba Trails Improvement Endowment Fund and the Manitoba Trails Improvement Fund - Rural.

According to Stanley Trail Association Board Member, James Friesen, the grant will support a project that's talked about for years in the Morden, Winkler and R.M. of Stanley area.Morden-Winkler MLA, Cameron Friesen, congratulated James Friesen of the Stanley Trail Association on a grant toward the proposed Stanley Corridor Pathway. Supplied photo/Cameron Friesen

"I think community members will remember the idea of building a corridor pathway, or a trail, between Winkler and Morden. It's been decades of discussion, and there was interest generated again about four or five years ago. We're picking up on the work that was done, and then the preliminary work. We've quietly reorganized ourselves, and we really hope that this next year, we'll be putting that through."

Friesen says a trail like this will do more than provide a new recreational opportunity.

"When you're on the trail, you actually meet and greet people, right? So, it's a much better way to build friendship and relationship than sitting in our cars and going 100 kilometers or more per hour between the two communities."

The Stanley Trail Association is part of the Trans Canada Trail, and starts at the south end of the R.M. of Thompson, goes south and southeast along the escarpment and empties out at the Municipality of Rhineland at the southeast corner of the R.M. of Stanley right at the U.S. Border. Friesen notes, while the trail is mainly used in spring, summer and fall, the Stanley Trail is used for skiing, snow shoeing and fat biking in winter.