If you’re a mountain bike rider, trail builder, trails association or trail advocacy group, then listen up. With mountain biking more popular than ever, and growth showing no signs of plateau, trail building, maintenance and stewardship is becoming more important than ever. Today, Santa Cruz Bicycles have launched the PayDirt fund, to which individuals and organisations can apply for grant funding for their community trail building & stewardship projects.
Santa Cruz PayDirt Fund
In the UK, we’ve seen communities rise to the occasion with the creation of two new Trail Associations; the Aberdeenshire Trails Association and the the Tweed Valley Trails Association, both funded in part by Developing Mountain Biking Scotland, a government funded project to do what it says on the tin. It’s exciting and encouraging to see governments recognising the need for trail building and maintenance, and now it’s even more encouraging to see that the big mountain bike brands are getting involved too.
Through their PayDirt fund, Santa Cruz have pledged to donate $1 million over the course of 3 years to trail development projects, local and national advocacy organizations, events, and programs geared toward creating and strengthening access to trails. PayDirt is about supporting grassroots organizations and individuals to do the silent work of advocacy to build or maintain the trails we all enjoy.
This is excellent news for mountain bikers everywhere. Not only will it provide much needed money to impactful trail building projects all over the world, it will also show a sense of corporate responsibility, hopefully leading to more of the big brands following in the footsteps of Santa Cruz.
