Two LI outdoors groups nab grants

Two local environmental-outdoors groups, Friends of Edgewood-Oak Brush Plains Preserve and Concerned Long Island Mountain Bicyclists, have received grants from Parks & Trails New York, a statewide parks advocacy group.

The Edgewood group in Babylon received $2,000 for design of a logo, stationery, a table-top display and newsletter to help the organization with community outreach.

CLIMB, which maintains bike trails from Queens to Suffolk, was given $1,700 for recruitment and training materials to expand its Trail Ambassador program. The group’s president, Michael Vitti of Glen Head, said there are about two dozen ambassadors who ride trails and help people who might be lost or need repairs, help with maintenance and teach responsible trail use.

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The two grants, among eight statewide, were made possible by a private donor and “are a small investment in strengthening our state’s not-for-profit park and trail organizations, enabling these groups to leverage more private funding and marshal more volunteer power to better fill the gaps in government spending,” said Robin Dropkin, executive director of Parks & Trails New York.