Iowa's Tatanka Ska Trace Scores $475,000 State Grant to Push Rail Trail Closer to Superior
Northwest Iowa's most ambitious rail trail project just got a significant shot in the arm. On October 13, 2026, the Iowa Transportation Commission convened in Marquette and approved a fresh round of trail funding that places one of the region's most compelling outdoor corridors firmly on the road toward completion. The commission approved $2,557,055 for six State Recreational Trails Program projects. Among them, the standout award for outdoor enthusiasts in the Iowa Great Lakes region: Tatanka Ska Trace Phase 5a in Dickinson County received $475,000. The grant pushes the easterly expansion of the trail — the stretch running from Orleans toward Superior — measurably closer to becoming a continuous, rideable reality.
For anyone who has pedaled the Iowa Great Lakes corridor, the news carries real weight. The Tatanka Ska Trace is not just another paved path through a park. It is a full-on rail-trail conversion — the kind of project that reshapes how an entire region moves, connects, and draws visitors. And Phase 5a represents one of the most scenically promising segments yet to be built.
What Is the Tatanka Ska Trace — and Why Does It Matter?
The name alone deserves explanation. Tatanka Ska Trace is a developing 37-mile rail-trail in the Iowa Great Lakes region, named after the Lakota Sioux word for "white buffalo." The name is fitting — this trail traces a corridor with deep historical roots and a character shaped by the wide-open Northwest Iowa landscape.
The railroad was first constructed by the Burlington, Cedar Rapids and Northern Railway in 1876, said to be the first tracks to span across Iowa, and the railway remained the main way to get across the state until it merged with Union Pacific Railroad Co. in 1995. The railroad was later abandoned and purchased by the Dickinson County Trails Board and Osceola County Conservation Board in 2017. That purchase set the stage for one of the more ambitious rural trail conversions in the Midwest.
The "Rail Trail" runs from west of Superior, through Spirit Lake and across Dickinson and Osceola counties to Allendorf where it connects with the Ed Winkel Trail. To date, 12 miles are developed going west from Spirit Lake to Lake Park, and the trail will be over 43 miles when complete. That is a serious corridor — long enough to attract destination cyclists, competitive enough for training rides, and scenic enough to make the round trip worth repeating.
The Historic Phasing of Construction
Building a rail-trail of this scale doesn't happen overnight. The Dickinson County Trails Board has spent the better part of a decade moving the Tatanka Ska Trace forward segment by segment, funding source by funding source. Construction began in 2019 with one mile in Spirit Lake going west from Peoria Avenue to Hudson Avenue, followed by the Spirit Lake to Lake Park stretch of 11.2 miles completed between 2020 and 2024. The ambitious long-term roadmap: Lake Park to Sibley (21 miles) and Orleans to Superior (6.3 miles) from 2025 through 2035.
The easterly expansion toward Superior — the segment now being activated through the Phase 5a grant — is the other critical prong of that plan. With tree clearing and minor grading now complete along the rail corridor east of Orleans to Highway 71, design work is underway to advance full trail development. These segments will span more than 4 miles and feature sweeping views of rolling hills, prairies, wetlands, and shaded tree canopies. On paper that reads like a trail brochure. On the ground, it describes the kind of raw, unspoiled Midwest terrain that makes rail trail riding in this part of the country genuinely different from anything you'll find on a greenway in a metro park.
Over $4 million has been secured from federal and state grants to purchase the rail right of way, complete structure renovations, and to construct the first four phases of trail development. Phase 5a's $475,000 state award layers on top of that foundation and signals that momentum hasn't slowed — it's accelerating.
The October 13 Commission Decision: Context and Competition
The State Recreational Trails Program is not a free-money spigot. It is a competitive, application-based program with real criteria and limited resources. The program was created in 1988 with the purpose of developing and maintaining recreational trails and trail-related facilities for both motorized and non-motorized trail users, and funding is available to cities, counties, state agencies, local governments, and nonprofit organizations through an annual application-based program. Every year, organizations from across Iowa submit applications, and the Iowa DOT evaluates them before the Transportation Commission makes final awards.
In the November 2025 round alone — the cycle just before the current one — the Iowa Transportation Commission approved $3,127,377 for nine State Recreational Trails Program projects. That earlier round included a $295,000 award for a separate Dickinson County project, the Clay County Connection Phase 3, demonstrating just how consistently the region has been able to compete for and win state trail dollars.
The October 2026 round awarded a total of $2,557,055 for six State Recreational Trails Program projects to develop and maintain recreational trails in Iowa. The full list included the Central Place Trail Phase 2 in Des Moines ($470,000), Iowa River's Edge Trail resurfacing and bridge replacement between Gifford and Union in Hardin County ($413,119), the Raccoon River East Greenway Trail from 1st Street Recreation Area to Raccoon River Park in West Des Moines ($400,000), and Tatanka Ska Trace Phase 5a in Dickinson County ($475,000). Winning $475,000 in a competitive statewide field, against projects from Des Moines, Dubuque, and other population centers, shows the strength of the Dickinson County Trails Board's application and the established track record the organization brings to every grant cycle.
The Bigger Vision: Iowa Great Lakes Connection
The Tatanka Ska Trace does not exist in isolation. It is one piece of a far more ambitious regional network that trail planners in Northwest Iowa have been stitching together for decades. Understanding Phase 5a requires understanding the whole picture.
The Spine Trail and the Great Lakes System
The Spine Trail is the core of the Iowa Great Lakes Trails system — 15 miles long, connecting the towns of Milford, Arnolds Park, Okoboji, Spirit Lake, and Orleans, and tying into several other trails. The Tatanka Ska Trace feeds into this spine and extends the reach of the network dramatically to the west and, eventually, to the east toward Superior.
The overall trail system in Dickinson County has grown into one of the more impressive recreational assets in the upper Midwest. The Iowa Great Lakes area in Dickinson County offers 55 miles of paved trail — a number that makes it competitive with well-known trail destinations in states with far larger populations and recreation budgets. The Dickinson County Trails Board has done extensive work over the last 35 years in landing state and federal grants and a substantial amount of fundraising to put all of that together.
Usage numbers tell the rest of the story. Last year, the trail had 425,000 users, as usage has exploded since the 2020 pandemic pushed people outside. That is not a regional novelty number — that is legitimate destination traffic that rivals small-town theme parks and regional state park systems. Erin Reed, executive director of the Dickinson County Trails Board, has described why such outdoor trails are critical for the area, noting that people from many counties away come to use trails that wind through towns and nature areas, and that the return on investment for recreational trails is manyfold in terms of user wellbeing and health.
The 135-Mile Iowa Great Lakes Connection
If the regional vision holds, the Tatanka Ska Trace is one artery in a five-county network that could reshape outdoor recreation across all of Northwest Iowa. People are working toward a five-county trail running south from Dickinson County through Clay, Buena Vista, Sac, and Carroll counties — a combined trail that could be about 135 miles. That corridor, if completed, would give cyclists and multi-use trail users a legitimate multi-day route through some of the most underrated terrain in the American heartland.
The Clay County Connection is part of this 135-mile Iowa Great Lakes Connection that will link several lakes in northwest Iowa. And the Tatanka Ska Trace — once its easterly expansion reaches Superior — closes a gap on the opposite end of the local network, creating a more complete and accessible circuit around and beyond the Iowa Great Lakes.
The Clay County Connection: A Parallel Success Story
While Phase 5a grabs the current headlines, the Tatanka Ska Trace grant is actually the second major trail funding win for Dickinson County in recent memory. The Clay County Connection project — a 3.5-mile expansion of the Iowa Great Lakes Spine Trail running south into Clay County — has been on a parallel funding track, and its progress offers a useful window into how Dickinson County operates.
On May 22, 2025, the Okoboji Foundation announced a Leadership Grant of $75,000 to support Phases I and II of the Clay County Connection. That came on top of a major earlier award: the Iowa Economic Development Authority Board had awarded a $500,000 grant to Dickinson County for the project. To date, the Clay County Connection has received nearly $1.8 million in grant funding through a variety of sources including the Okoboji Foundation, Iowa Economic Development Authority's Community Attraction and Tourism program, Federal Recreational Trails, State Recreational Trails, and the Iowa DNR REAP program.
Construction of the second phase of Clay County Connection is scheduled for 2026. This 2-mile segment is supported by a combination of funding sources, including State Recreational Trails, Iowa DNR REAP, Okoboji Foundation, and Iowa Economic Development CAT grants, totaling $930,000.
Once completed, this vital addition will enhance regional connectivity, linking three counties across two states and eight municipalities via a continuous 32-mile trail corridor. That cross-state connection — Iowa to Minnesota — is a genuine draw for cyclists looking to run a multi-day route without doubling back on the same pavement.
What Phase 5a Actually Builds — and What Riders Can Expect
The Phase 5a designation places this grant squarely in the easterly expansion of the trail from Orleans toward Superior. This is the section of Tatanka Ska Trace that has been the most talked-about among trail advocates in Northwest Iowa, because it closes the gap between the developed trail system and the town of Superior — and by extension, sets up future connections toward the Ed Winkel Trail running west out of Allendorf.
The trail connects to the Ed Winkel Trail near Sibley and runs 37 miles through Allendorf, Ocheyedan, and Harris in Osceola County. In Dickinson County the trail travels through Lake Park, Montgomery, Spirit Lake, and Orleans, ending just west of Superior. Phase 5a moves the trail's eastern terminus measurably closer to fulfilling that full 37-mile through-route.
The terrain in this stretch is fundamentally different from the lakeside sections closer to the Iowa Great Lakes resort communities. Once you leave Orleans and push east along the old rail corridor, the landscape opens up into classic Iowa prairie — wide sky, rolling topography, seasonal wildflower blooms, and the kind of quiet that trail users specifically travel for. With tree clearing and minor grading already complete along the rail corridor east of Orleans to Highway 71, design work is actively underway, and these segments will span more than 4 miles, featuring sweeping views of rolling hills, prairies, wetlands, and shaded tree canopies. That is a compelling combination for cyclists who want something more than a lakefront loop.
Infrastructure Groundwork Already Laid
One of the reasons Phase 5a was competitive in the state grant process is that it isn't starting from scratch. The groundwork has been systematically laid. Tree clearing and grading along the corridor have already been completed, meaning the $475,000 award can be deployed efficiently toward actual paved surface rather than raw site preparation. For grant reviewers evaluating "shovel-ready" status — one of the formal criteria under the State Recreational Trails Program — that pre-construction work provides a measurable advantage.
Over $4 million has been secured from federal and state grants to purchase the rail right of way, complete structure renovations, and construct the first four phases of trail development, with local donations, Imagine Iowa Great Lakes, and Dickinson County Trails Board development funds also providing match dollars. The match funding component matters because state and federal programs typically favor applicants who demonstrate local financial commitment. Dickinson County has built that track record across multiple funding cycles, which makes each successive application stronger than the last.
The Tatanka Ska Trace and the National Rail Trail Picture
The Tatanka Ska Trace's latest grant win is part of a national story. Across the country, trail development has emerged as one of the more politically durable infrastructure investments — drawing support from communities that disagree on almost everything else, because rideable trail networks generate measurable economic returns, serve both urban and rural populations, and come with relatively modest maintenance costs compared to road infrastructure.
Since 2008, Rails to Trails Conservancy has provided nearly $4.5 million in trail grants to more than 310 organizations seeking to connect outdoor spaces. Iowa has been an active participant in that national push. While there are currently more than 204 miles of trail gaps to develop along the Great American Rail-Trail in Iowa, support for it is strong across the state, which branded itself as the "World Capital of Trails" in 2024. That branding is not mere boosterism — it reflects a genuine policy commitment, with dedicated funding streams through the Iowa DOT that have grown more consistent and competitive over the years.
For a rail trail like Tatanka Ska Trace, which reclaims a corridor that once served Iowa's first cross-state railroad, the conversion arc is genuinely meaningful. The Burlington, Cedar Rapids and Northern Railway stitched Northwest Iowa together in 1876. A century and a half later, the corridor it cut through prairie and wetland is becoming the backbone of a regional outdoor recreation economy. That is the long game of rail trail development — and Dickinson County is playing it well.
Dickinson County Trails Board: A Model for Rural Trail Organizations
Behind every grant win is an organization with the capacity and credibility to win it. The mission of the Dickinson County Trails Board is to acquire, develop, preserve, and improve multi-purpose recreational trails in Dickinson County and to cooperate with adjoining counties in the development of regional trails. That last clause — cooperation with adjoining counties — is what separates the DCTB from narrower, single-jurisdiction trail groups. The cross-county and cross-state linkages the organization has built make its projects more competitive for regional and federal funding, because reviewers can see clear connectivity logic rather than isolated segments.
The DCTB has also been disciplined about layering funding sources rather than depending on any single grant program. The Clay County Connection alone has drawn from the Okoboji Foundation, Iowa Economic Development Authority, Federal Recreational Trails, State Recreational Trails, Iowa DNR REAP, Imagine Iowa Great Lakes, and private donors. Phase 5a of Tatanka Ska Trace follows the same playbook — state funding as a centerpiece, with match dollars assembled from local and organizational sources.
The 2025 Dickinson County Trails Annual Report showcases exciting developments moving into construction in the coming year, along with projects currently in the planning phase, including the completion of a key regional connection and continued expansion of the Tatanka Ska Trace rail trail. For an organization working across a rural county with a relatively modest tax base, that level of pipeline activity — multiple simultaneous phases across multiple trail corridors — requires sustained grant-writing capacity and strong relationships with state agencies. The DCTB has both.
What It Means for Riders, Planners, and the Iowa Great Lakes Economy
The practical implications of Phase 5a's funding reach well beyond the trail corridor itself. Every mile of completed trail in this system expands the catchment area for Iowa Great Lakes tourism — drawing cyclists, trail runners, and outdoor travelers who anchor their trips to trail access and spend money on lodging, food, gear, and experience in communities along the route.
The usage data already makes the economic case. With 425,000 users annually on the existing Dickinson County trail system, the economic multiplier from trail spending is real and documented. Reed has contended that the return on investment for recreational trails is manyfold, in terms of helping the wellbeing of users and making them more healthy. Beyond individual health outcomes, trails function as linear infrastructure that connects communities economically — every new mile between Orleans and Superior is a mile closer to making the Iowa Great Lakes region a legitimate multi-day cycling destination with full end-to-end routing.
The Tatanka Ska Trace's easterly push toward Superior also matters for communities that sit outside the immediate Iowa Great Lakes tourism bubble. Towns like Lake Park, Montgomery, and the smaller communities along the rail corridor gain a different kind of connectivity — not just to each other, but to the larger recreational economy centered on the lakes. Trail access changes the calculus for small-town economic development in ways that are hard to engineer through any other single infrastructure investment.
Looking Ahead: The Long Trail to Completion
Phase 5a is a milestone, not a finish line. The long-term plan calls for the Lake Park to Sibley stretch (21 miles) and the Orleans to Superior section (6.3 miles) to be built out between 2025 and 2035. That is a decade-long construction horizon — realistic for a project of this scale, but ambitious for an organization reliant on competitive grant cycles that don't always align with construction timelines.
The Tatanka Ska Trace's Phase 5a win, combined with the parallel progress on Clay County Connection Phase 2 in 2026 and the earlier TAP grant for Phase IV(e) west of Lake Park, shows that the DCTB has figured out how to run multiple project threads simultaneously without losing momentum on any of them. The Region 3 Transportation Alternatives Program awarded a $400,000 grant for the continued development of Tatanka Ska Trace, with a 1.7-mile segment set for Phase IV(e) construction in 2029 that will extend the trail around Silver Lake, reaching the west side of Lake Park.
The result, when all the phases eventually stitch together, will be something genuinely rare in the rural Midwest: a multi-phase rail trail spanning 37 miles that connects eight northwest Iowa towns, joining the Ed Winkel Memorial Trail west of Allendorf and continuing to Sibley for a total of 43 miles. Pair that with the Clay County Connection reaching south into Minnesota and the 15-mile Spine Trail running through the Iowa Great Lakes resort towns, and you have a trail network with legitimate destination status — the kind of system that gets listed in national cycling publications and draws weekend road trips from Sioux City, Omaha, Minneapolis, and beyond.
The $475,000 awarded to Tatanka Ska Trace Phase 5a on October 13, 2026 is one grant decision among six on a Tuesday afternoon in Marquette, Iowa. But on the ground, in the rail corridor east of Orleans where the grading is done and the designers are working, it is the difference between a trail that exists on maps and a trail that exists under tires. For the Iowa Great Lakes region, that difference is everything.
