ACOA
The Dynamite Trail began with a grant from ACOA and support from Municipality of District of Lunenburg. A crew was hired to brush out the trail which had grown in during the years since the railway left.
Operating Engineers
The Operating Engineers from Bridgewater decked and railed both the Martins River Bridge and the Mush a Mush River Bridge, donating the labour to construct the work.
Municipality of District of Lunenburg
The Municipality of District of Lunenburg gave full support to the development of Trails in the District by hiring the First Trail Coordinator, Laura Barkhouse, a decision which has enabled the development of Trails since 2000.
Off Highway Vehicle Fund
In the beginning, the OHV Fund was a strong supporter of the Dynamite Trail, supplying funds to deck and rail the Narrows Bridge and contributed significant dollars to maintain the surface of the trail, usually one third of the annual surface maintenance budget. In recent years, this support has completely disappeared.
Funding Over the Last Five Years
Municipality of District of Lunenburg
The Municipality of the District of Lunenburg has adopted a policy of regularly granting maintenance money to trail groups, based on kilometres of trail. This grant covers about one third of the annual maintenance cost.
Community, Culture, Tourism, and Heritage
This Department of the Nova Scotia Government is the department that grants funds for trail groups and supplies an annual grant for maintenance of the trail. Additionally the Department funds special projects. This support is necessary for the maintenance of the trail.
Trans Canada Trail
The Dynamite Trail is part of the Trans Canada Trail system and receives funding from the national source. Usually the TCT funds a trail cleanup project in the Spring and a clean up project in the Fall. Additionally, the TCT has various funding programs over two year periods to fund major repair projects for trails.
Funding of the Bridge Project
As part of the trail maintenance program, a bridge inspection report by an engineering firm is required. It is then the responsibility of the Dynamite Trail Association to obtain the funding. The funding required is significant and is outside the normal fund granting programs.
Community, Culture, Tourism, and Heritage
The department was approached to change the funding process to enable the Dynamite Trail Association to undertake major work on the large bridges. Significant funds were granted to the Dynamite Trail Association to facilitate contracting with major contractors and engineering firms. This work is proceeding due to the enabling funding from CCTH.
Trans Canada Trail
Funding is available from TCT to be used over multiple years for large projects. Significant funds came from TCT to be added to the funds granted by CCTH.
Municipality of District of Lunenburg
The municipality has available funding programs for special community projects. Large grants have become available to the Dynamite Trail Association for the bridge restoration project.
The three levels of government have cooperated with the grant programs to enable the Dynamite Trail Association to undertake a multi-million dollar project. The cooperation of the funding partners has made the restoration of the large bridges a reality.