Read the Full Report Here
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Building Trails to a Healthier Community Vail Valley Mountain Trails Alliance Annual Report 2019-2020 Vail Valley Dear Community, Mountain Trails 2020 was a challenging year but also an exciting one. Without hire Momentum Trail Concepts to build the new Will’s Thrill a doubt, it was the busiest and most successful year yet for the Trail. Alliance VVMTA. Almost overnight, we were confined to our homes To wrap up the trail season in Eagle, the VVMTA and HTC and seemingly separated from our friends, family, and normal partnered with Eagle County Open Space to help build and lives. Trails and access to our public lands quickly became a open the 3 Sisters Trail. It is the first trail built and opened in necessary escape not for only regular trail users but also for the Brush Creek Valley Ranch & Open Space which will lead Our Mission is to maintain, educate, many new and excited trail users. to other strategic trail connections in 2021 and into the future. Trails are more important than ever and will continue to advocate for, & build sustainable non- Additionally, the VVMTA partnered with the Eagle-Holy be into the future. They are an economic driver for our Cross Ranger District and successfully received a $75,000 motorized soft surface trails while conserving community, increase our quality of life, and improve our grant from the National Forest Foundation to hire McGill mental and physical health. We will continue to encourage the natural environment of Eagle County & Trails to complete the final portion of reroutes on Cougar you to get outside and enjoy nature. But we also recognize Ridge. After four years of reroutes on Cougar Ridge, it is our public lands. that it is also more important than ever to care for our trails finished and the final product is nothing short of incredible. and plan for the future. With your help, we will continue to prioritize stewardship, a balance between recreation and We also took the lead and advocated hard for Holy Cross Our Vision is the creation of a conservation, and sustainable trail planning and building Energy and the Town of Avon to mitigate the impact of the practices. new service roads created in the West Avon Preserve. We had sustainable multi-use soft surface trail network many meetings, planned new trail alignments, worked with The pandemic forced us to delay the start of the Wildlife Trail connecting communities & neighborhoods environmental biologists and the Eagle Valley Land Trust. Ambassador (WTA) and Adopt A Trail (AAT) programs to Funding was confirmed from Holy Cross Energy, Berry from Vail Pass to Basalt. We promote June. In a normal year these programs have in-person training Creek Metro District, and Town of Avon to hire Momentum and volunteers are out on our trails and at our trailheads in stewardship of our public lands, sustainable Trail Concepts to build new singletrack trails off of the service April and May. However, you, our volunteers, showed up in roads and preserve a high quality trail experience. trail building practices, & a balance between full force despite the pandemic! Our 69 AAT teams and 750 volunteers still managed to contribute over 2,500 hours of Finally, on top of all of the trail work we continued to educate recreation & conservation. trail maintenance on the 61 trails adopted. trail users and advocate for the sustainability of our trails. We launched the VVMTA Trail Conditions page which now has In partnership with the Town of Minturn and after almost over 800 members sharing information about what trails are The VVMTA maintains that trails contribute four years of planning, fundraising, and community support, muddy, under seasonal closures, have trees down, and more. we finally broke ground on the Minturn Bike Park. Thanks to the quality of life & economic vitality of to the over $50,000 you contributed, $47,000 from the Town We could not have performed any of this work without the community. of Minturn, $88,000 from VVMTA reserve funds, and over you and are incredibly grateful for your generous support. $500,000 of in-kind contributions, Phase 1 and 2A opened Whether you volunteer your time or donate, thank you for on August 29th. It was breathtaking to see the amount of use all you do for us and our trails. Our Efforts include managing trail by all ages, demographics, backgrounds, and skill levels. In fact, the bike park was averaging over 1,000 rides per day in Sincerely, advocacy programs, coordinating & training September. volunteers, educateing outdoor recreational The VVMTA Trail Crew and Hardscrabble Trails Coalition users, organizing events, & contributing our had a successful and busy year as well. In the Spring, the VVMTA and HTC completed the final 0.75 miles of the new Ernest Saeger talents, guidance & time to support local land Hillbilly Trail in East Eagle. Additionally, the HTC reached Executive Director managers in various soft surface trail initiatives. into their pockets and successfully fundraised over $11,000 to Board of Directors & Staff Jamie Malin Kat Sedillo Casey Wyse Ernest Saeger President Vice President Treasurer Executive Director Jamie is a co- Kat has been a part Casey is a business Ernest has been the founder of of the VVMTA manager & Executive Director the VVMTA, since its early days, accounting whiz since April successful business has called the Vail by trade, & an 2019, bringing owner, & has an Valley her home for even better trail his extensive unwavering passion over two decades, is crew leader & trail experience in for our trails & a marketing guru, builder by night, the nonprofit, public lands. & knows that trails providing hundreds government, & don’t just happen – of volunteer hours private sectors, as trail fairies are real! on our trails on an annual basis. well as his deep love for the outdoors. Mark Luzar Bill Hoblitzell Pete Seibert Jr. Michelle Wolffe Board Member Board Member Board Member Adopt A Trail / Ambasador Coordinator Mark is a Bill is an Pete is a staple of successful retired environmental our community’s Michelle is an microelectronics scientist & brings history & heavily X-ray & MRI mercenary who his GIS expertise, involved in local technologist, but has pivoted from trail planning savvy, committees & her true passion a computer screen & good pizza to boards. He brings is working with to providing his the VVMTA. He his passion for our community passion, trail has an extensive the mountains & of volunteers, building expertise, background in connections to our creating stewards & overall sense of laughter to our trail crew. natural resource management & planning. community to help further our mission. of our trails, & growing the Adopt A Trail & Wildlife Trail Ambassador programs. Brian Rodine Fritz Bratschie Robert Tadlock Lee Rimel Board Member Board Member Board Member & HTC President Board Emeritus Brian is a lover of Fritz has long Robert is the Lee is a mentor all the mountains worked as an President of the & a relentless have to offer. He Environmental Hardscrabble advocate for trails, spends his work Sustainability Trails Coalition outdoor recreation, days advocating Manager in Eagle (HTC), a software & our public for backcountry County. He engineer, & jack- lands. He has been education with serves on local of-all-trades. On instrumental in the Friends of nonprofit boards any given day, he’s shaping (literally CAIC & brings & committees, but either riding his in the dirt & in his experience in the nonprofit marketing & when out of the office, you will find him on dirt bike or touring the Colorado backcountry councils’ chambers) the trails we are lucky to communications world. his bike or hunting on our public lands. on his backpacking bike. have & love in our backyard. “Every time I talk Trails are more with a congressional staffer, I tell them ‘if important than ever... you don’t think public Trails provide a much needed escape and lands are important improve our physical and mental health. to this country, you They enhance our quality of life and need to get out here provide a significant economic impact for and see what’s going our community. They are, in short, why on right now,’ just to we live, work, and play here. reinforce the fact that We encourage you to get outside, we need to invest in exercise, and enjoy nature. But we need these things. The Latin to ensure our trails and public lands are sustainable. We continue to promote and translation for recreate maintain a balance between recreation is re-create, to restore. opportunities And that’s what we and conservation needs. are seeing. People are Our local population and trail use has seeking restoration on been increasing and was accelerated due their public lands. It’s to the pandemic. Looking into the future, a challenge, sure, but these trends will only continue and now it’s a beautiful thing to it is more important than ever to care for our trails, educate trail users, and provide see.” sustainable recreation opportunities. Scott Fitzwilliams White River National Forest Supervisor “This past summer was so busy. We’re probably anticipating that next summer as well. I think we all realize the public has really discovered outdoor recreation.” Leanne Veldhuis District Ranger, Eagle-Holy Cross Ranger District of White River National Forest “The recreation economy is one of those economies that we see as a renewable and sustainable resource, but there’s a level of stewardship that goes along with that. We gotta be proactive in terms of maintaining that balance, to keep what’s special about Colorado truly special.” Tim Mauck Deputy Executive, Department of Natural Resources Programs Adopt A Trail Trail Conditions Pandemic / Responsible The Adopt A Trail (AAT) program completed its fifth To help our community & guests understand what Recreation successful year & grew to 69 local businesses, teams, trails are open, dry, & to collect inventory of trail work It was evident that trail use increased during the & organizations adopting 61 trails in 2020.