Support Our Work
For the last three decades, we have been involved in all of the planning and construction of the trail, and 100% of donations and funding has been used for engineering and construction of the Huckleberry Trail and the amenities along the trail.
2021-2022 PROJECTS
HUCKLEBERRIES
Most people know the story of how the Huckleberry Trail got its name. In the early twentieth century, a passenger train ran between Christiansburg and Blacksburg. The steam engine was notorious for stalling, or running so slow, that passengers had time to hop off the train and pick huckleberries. The train became known as the Huckleberry Train, and the Blacksburg Train Station was nicknamed “Huckleberry Station.”
You can’t find many huckleberries in the corridor these days, but we plan to change that. We’re working with the localities and master naturalists to select species and to identify locations within the trail corridor to re-establish huckleberry plantings. We will also use this as an opportunity to remove invasive species in the corridor, too.
FIELD EXPLORER PACKS
Friends of the Huckleberry is partnering with the
Wonder Universe: A Children’s Museum to develop and provide Field Explorer Packs for children to explore the Huckleberry Trail. The geographic nexus of the trail and the museum offers visitors an opportunity to extend their experience from the indoors to the outdoors. Families will be able to check out the explorer packs at the museum and head out to the trail to explore the natural landscapes with activity guides and tools for field observations.
INTERACTIVE MAPS
TRAIL MASTER PLAN
In October 2021, we kicked off an effort to develop the first ever Huckleberry Trail Plan. The New River Valley Metropolitan Planning Organization and NRV Regional Commission provided funding and staff resources to facilitate the planning process. The key stakeholders are Friends of the Huckleberry, local governments, Virginia Tech — and the trail user community. The master plan will create a unified vision for the trail in the way of design, construction, signage, amenities, public art, events and so on. The goal is to finalize a master plan in late spring 2022. As in the past, Friends of the Huckleberry will be a key funding partner for the future amenities.
MILEAGE MARKERS
To provide more resources to trail users for exploring the trail, we added brand new mileage markers in 2021 to the newest segments of the trail and introduced new logos for the north and south segments.
If you are interested in having your logo or name displayed on one of the markers, sponsorships are still available. Send us an email to learn about this and other sponsorship opportunities.