Fundraising is underway for a major resurfacing project on the Wabash Trace Nature Trail.

Southwest Iowa Nature Trails Project, Inc. is the non-profit corporation that maintains the trail throughout the year. Becca Castle says the group is looking to raise money to help with some resurfacing along portions of the trail. She says the over 70 bridges on the 63-mile long trail can create hurdles to getting some parts of the trail regular maintenance.

"They're old railroad bridges, so they were built to hold trains up," said Castle. "They are really sturdy, but they are not wide enough to accommodate some of the gravel trucks that we have that need to come down and spread the surfacing. There are some areas that are kind of landlocked and really hard to get to. Some of those areas are the ones that have maybe not had surfacing put down since the late 80s or early 90s."

Trail officials have identified 5 1/2 miles of the trail to be resurfaced between Council Bluffs and the popular "Margaritaville" stop, as well as one mile between Shenandoah and Imogene.

"When the trail gets wet, you can really notice some of those area where the trail is thinner more than other areas," said Castle. "We need to really build that up. There is a section between Imogene and Shenandoah that's also in dire need. We're estimating that will require over 35 loads of gravel, plus associated costs like tree-trimming for the trucks, grading and smoothing out the surfacing. It's going to cost over $20,000 to do all that."