All- Seems like there are a ton of great ideas/projects discussed on MTBR as of late. If you'd like to sit down with Evergreen board/staff we'd love to hear what's on your mind.
Next Thursday we'll be gathering for a casual 'brown bag' lunch at our Greenlake office if you'd like to join, we'd love to chat. http://evergreenmtb.org/recreation/calendar.php?event_id=8422
Would love to be there, but being a working slob in the hinterlands prevents such things of course. Hopefully I'll have more positive update for Cle Elum stuff soon- there's some community things going on that might be promising, just gotta track down the right people at the right time.
Great scott, good idea. Wish I could join you but can't steal away from my lunch hour to make that. Maybe over a beer after work. Definitely appreciate that you are seeking positive feedback, it is so much better in person than in email, I'm glad to see the board seeking input from the community.
Tempered expectations with realistic and innovative approaches in sustainable methods that promote stewardship, and secure indelible long-term support in as many appropriate trails systems as possible. Every trail system is slightly different, most individuals like to limit their help to a small number of trails which is reasonable. It's time to officially structure and identify sub-groups to help, and provide a consistent yet flexible structure of roving paid staff for various support.
The common thread I'm seeing is the need to equip/empower our membership to impact their local riding areas.
Whether that means providing direction and support during the planning phase of a new trail project, a platform to help organize volunteers, or assistance in assembling the necessary tools/supplies to tackle a new trail or maintenance project.
This is something board and staff have discussed a great deal recently and I'm confident we can and will improve the way we manage this part of our operation.
Evergreen has the capacity to (directly) manage ~one or two new projects at a time given our current budget/headcount constraints. From my perspective it is critical that we execute well on the projects we take on, and try not to spread ourselves too thin.
As far as specifics ie: "real dirt jumps, or more backcounty," today we've got progressive terrain in progress at Duthie and backcountry trail happening at Hansen Ridge and that is our 2010 commitment to new development.
In terms of new projects, we are always open to work with a passionate and dedicated champion to help identify a specific opportunity, prioritize the project, and enlist local support to make it happen.
We've had a great deal of communication with members of the Central Washington riding community (including verslowrdr) who are bringing specific, actionable opportunities to Evergreen and offering themselves as "owners" of a specific project. These things don't unfold overnight, but with a strong voice evangelizing for a particular trail we can and will make new projects happen.
In my opinion, Evergreen is already doing excellent in this regard! Nice work. :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
Colonnade and Duthie get most of the attention (with good cause) but I think Paradise Valley and Hansen Ridge (sp?) are also huge wins for local riders. And, I think the way Evergreen solidified resources to re-open access to Tokul West was another example of the right things happening at the right time.
It would be cool if there was a way to empower evergreen members to maintain "grey" trails as needed, where it may not be appropriate for evergreen itself to sanction these as official projects. Maybe just by a tools check-in/out and design advisory role....Tricky subject, I know.
I would have to say my #1 desire would be to have a legal weeknight riding spot where I could descend 2-3000'+ vert of moderately technical trails, without repeats..and climb singletrack or fire-roads to get to them... I know Evergreen is working towards this (and really the grand ridge> duthie OAB is a pretty good option!)..just adding that since the intrawebs is as close as I can get to the evergreen office today.
I think the one thing about this is....God helps those that helps themselves. Meaning, Evergreen can (and should) empower these riders/builders/advocates with the necessary brainpower and tools to get these projects rolling, but, in the end, it really relies on the local riders to make it happen. As the saying goes....the feet on the street.
In thinking of Roslyn/Cle Elum/Salmon Le Sac, for instance, there's zero reason (in my mind) why that area couldn't be as good as Fruita or Bend. Of course, Fruita had Troy Rarick building trail and working with BLM and Bend had Phil and various others pushing their trail network forward. So, while verslowrdr is pushing this agenda forward on her end, she's gonna need other Central WA riders to step it up.
Thanks for the nod. Just so y'all know, there's some major political pushing forward going on here in Cle Elum and there's now a whole 'trails committee' with volunteer people from various user groups meeting together and trying to nail a plan of action down. I finally got hooked up with these folks the night before last and I'll be sitting in on as much of that from here on out that I can.
What I'm counting on Evergreen providing more than anything will be some experienced guidance/advice especially on the design side. Since we're a small community with limited resources, land owner permissions are going to be potentially 'interesting', and terrain for sure is 'interesting' in places, I want to make sure we're doing things right from the beginning. The last thing we need is something expensive and time consuming to build/maintain that isn't very usable and sucks the life-force out of the future of other such projects in the area.
Of course we could use all the physical help we can get when it comes down to it, but as Borneo has pointed out before this is pretty open forest and building can go fast once it's laid out.
I am definitely down for helping out in the Cle Elum area, cause I hope to be a land owner (and eventually a permananet resident!) if they ever get the darn water situation figured out...
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