Hummer to help fund OHV projects

General Motor’s Hummer division has entered a partnership with the nonprofit organization Tread Lightly that will help benefit outdoor land use for off-highway vehicles.

Called Hummer’s Recreation Rescue, this partnership will provide grants to outdoor recreation sites. The grants will be dedicated towards land use education, management and trail maintenance.

“This partnership comes at a critical time, especially for recreation activities involving the use of off-highway vehicles,” says Tread Lightly executive director Lori McCullough. “These grants will help land management agencies implement their new travel management policies in a way that helps both recreationists and the great outdoors.” Off-highway vehicle areas in the Sierra National Forest in central California and the Ocala National Forest in Florida have already been selected for 2008. Other sites are currently under consideration and will be announced by the beginning of summer. Volunteers are required to re-seed, install signage and kiosks and build trail enhancements.

“At a time when public participation in outdoor recreation is at a decline, organizations like Tread Lightly are extremely important in ensuring that open access to public land remains available for future generations,” says Hummer general manager Martin Walsh.   Hummer’s Recreation Rescue falls under the umbrella of Tread Lightly’s Restoration for Recreation program, which was designed to keep the outdoor recreation areas open to the public by providing resources for trail maintenance, education and communication initiatives to allow for environmentally sustainable outdoor recreation. The Bald Mountain off-highway vehicle trail in the Sierra National Forest will be home to the first project of the initiative.

More information about Hummer’s Recreation Rescue can be found at http://www.treadlightly.org.

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