The Moving Platteville Outdoors effort broke ground for the Rountree Branch Trail last week when a contract was signed awarding the effort a grant from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Stewardship Program.
Angie Wright, Platteville Community Grant Writer, put the grant together last year to ask for the $642,692 Department of Natural Resources grant. The Friends of Rountree Branch was put together approximately 18 years ago and it morphed into the non-profit Platteville Community Arboretum in 2004, according to a handout distributed at the ceremony.
The trail started with just a small segment beginning on Chestnut Street right before the roundabout under the bridge behind Delta 3 Engineering. It runs tangent to the river behind the businesses along Business Highway 151, up to the bridge behind the Super 8 Motel off of Highway 80/81. But now, after numerous monetary contributions, the trail continues from the Super 8 Motel past Culver’s and crosses underneath Business Highway 151 behind Dominos, passing by the Platteville Dog Park. It then travels behind the Iverson Quarry ending at Wal-Mart.
This trail is roughly 8 miles in length and offers an alternative transportation, exercise opportunities and scenic route for walkers or bikers around the area, including students at the Univerity of Wisconsin-Platteville.
“This trail provides opportunity for students to walk or bike a trail for a long, interesting, scenic journey,” Wisconsin Senator Howard Marklein said. “This trail is also very safe and runs [through] southwestern Wisconsin.”
According to a handout, UW-Platteville Advancement Division, organized by Dennis Cooley and his team, gave individual donations totaling up to $2,500 with individual students donating up to $180.
In 2013, a UW-Platteville Foundation donor supported the efforts to enhance the city of Platteville and encouraged outdoor recreation; they then decided to donate $50,000 to the Arboretum Trail Project.
“Students will gain tremendously from this trail,” Tom Nelson, a member of the Platteville Community Arboretum board said.
Gene Weber, a Moving Platteville Outdoors Rountree Trail Steering Committee Member, said students of the Reclamation Program and Club, and civil and environmental engineering design teams composed of students, assisted with the complex projects for the trail.
Not only does this trail offer exercise ventures and easy access to the community, but it also offers educational opportunities for students. To further enhance the trail, a cooperative project funded by UW-Platteville installed educational signs along the trail in 2002, according to Weber’s speech at the ceremony.
According to the handout, Tour De Trail, organized by Southwest Health, Platteville Community Arboretum Inc. and UW-Platteville Health Promotions majors raised $200 and had 58 people help with their community campaign. This campaign was publicized by hanging up promotional door hangers on local businesses and homes. Some of the events held on the trail consisted of group walks, jogs, bike rides, walking yoga and boot camps followed by lunch and live music.

Also helping with the community campaign were several other organizations on campus, including the Green Campus Organization, Chancellor Scholarship, UW-Platteville Swimming Club, Circle-K, Sigma Phi Epsilon, American Society Mechanical of Engineers, Pre-Law Society, Alpha Omega, Phi Omega, Delta Phi Alpha and Roundtree Commons staff and residents.
The PCA Community Service Auction, where UW-Platteville students, CERES Woman’s Fraternity and the Green Campus Organization, worked with local businesses and helped raise $1,380 for the Roundtree Branch Trail.
In the middle of the ceremony, Larry Bierke, the city manager, and Peter Biermeier, a representative from the DNR, signed a $642,692 grant for the Moving Platteville Outdoors Rountree Trail Project.
“We have the biggest trail system in the country,” Biermeier said during his speech at the ceremony. “We have 42 state trails stretching 3,000 miles in total in Wisconsin and we will be even bigger once we get the Platteville to Belmont trail completed in the summer of 2016.”
“The trail brings the community together and adds to the offerings of the greater Platteville community,” Travis Tranel, Wisconsin Representative said. Also, the trail will hopefully be long lasting so people will be able to use it for generations.
“This trail offers increased access to the community where students can get to the other side of town real easily,” Amy Delyea-Petska, the PCA Coordinator for the trail, and senior reclamation, environment and conservation major said. “The trial is a great feature for the UW-Platteville students, and my favorite part is that the trail runs right long the stream.”
Continuing the fundraising, the UW-Platteville Society of Pre-Health Students will be hosting a Trivia Night on Wednesday, April 15 to raise money for the Moving Outdoors Project.
On Saturday May 2, UW-Platteville Sustainability Office and the PCA will be hosting Rountree Spree, a 10K Race fundraiser that is hosted on the Rountree Branch Trail.
For more information about the trail and the maps of where it leads, visit http://www.plattevilletrailnetwork.org/.