Earlier this week, Cascade County Commissioners voted to assume responsibility for a pedestrian path known as Joe’s Trail.

The trail, started by a group of volunteers in the late 1990s, is located in the Montana Department of Transportation right-of-way starting in Cascade along old U.S. Highway 91, extending north to the Big Sky Fuel store in Ulm, including a walking bridge which crosses an overflow canal for the Missouri River.

The trails were created in response to the death of Joe Luckman, who was hit by a vehicle while riding his bike along the frontage road.

Charlene Moug of Joe’s Trail, Inc. told commissioners that residents in Cascade and Ulm created a non-profit to pursue trail development in the 90s.

“We didn’t know what we were doing,” Moug said.

Now, there are two sections of trail that are a community benefit, Moug said.

Commissioner Jim Larson said he regularly sees people walking on the trails when he drives by.

But now the non-profit’s board members are aging and are no longer able to manage the trail so the group asked the county to assume responsibility of the trails so that they don’t fall into disrepair and disappear.

Joe’s Trail, Inc. is dissolving and transferring their $20,000 to the county for maintenance of the trail, according to Commissioner Jane Weber.

Commissioner Joe Briggs thanked Moug for her patience while her group and the county worked out details with the Montana Department of Transportation.