Lehighton has received a $5,000 grant for its Mahoning Creek Trail Signage & Creek & Trail Bank Stabilization Project.

To that end, borough council on Monday unanimously agreed to approve the 2014 Pennsylvania Environmental Council Mini Grant Agreement.The grant will stabilize a portion of the Mahoning Creek, as well as portions of the trail, and install signage, according to borough Manager Nicole Beckett.Beckett said in-kind services and volunteers will be provided by The Friends of the Lehighton Wildlife Sanctuary.The project is part of the Pocono Conservation Landscape Initiative run by the Department of Community & Natural Resources, and administered by the PA Environmental Council.Trailhead dedicationdeemed a successAlso on Monday, council acknowledged the dedication and ribbon-cutting ceremony this past Saturday that marked the official opening of the Lehighton Trailhead of the Delaware & Lehigh National Heritage Trail on Sgt. Stanley Hoffman Boulevard.The D & L National Heritage Corridor is a 165-mile system of trails that stretches from Wilkes-Barre to Bristol, near Philadelphia. It follows the past routes of the Lehigh and Delaware canals and the Lehigh Valley Railroad routes that carried anthracite coal from the coal mines in our area to homes and industries in eastern Pennsylvania.The area of the Lehighton trailhead is located near the site of the former Lehighton train station along the Lehigh Valley Railroad.In addition, council said the inaugural 5K Earth Day Hippy Run/Walk also held Saturday along the Delaware & Lehigh National Heritage Trail was a huge success.More than 150 runners/walkers participated in the 3.1-mile event along the Lehigh River that began and ended at the newly dedicated Lehighton Trailhead of the D&L National Heritage Trail on Sgt. Stanley Hoffman Boulevard.The race was part of the 2014 class project for Leadership Carbon, and its purpose to build scholarship funds for students of the Carbon Career & Technical Institute that are pursuing secondary education.Student joins Shade Tree CommissionCouncil also appointed Sara Wingert, a senior at Lehighton Area High School, to the Shade Tree Commission.Mayor Tom Mase commended Wingert, as well as the Shade Tree Commission, and the Lehighton Area Middle School, for their recent Arbor Day celebration.Beckett also offered congratulatory words to Wingert, the school, and the Shade Tree Commission as well.The Borough is in its 21st year of membership with Tree City USA.