Organization: Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance
Mission: Evergreen creates, maintains, and protects sustainable mountain biking opportunities in Washington. We focus on education, volunteerism, advocacy, and trail building to strengthen recreation and conservation collaboration in protecting natural resources and recreation access in Washington.
Activities: TRAIL CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS: In 2019, Evergreen's construction work encompassed 70 miles of new trail across Washington State. We opened 50 miles of new trails, including: 2 miles at Lewis Butte, 13 miles at Chickadee/Thompson Ridge, 3.5 miles at Buck Mountain, and a 2 mile hiking-only trail in Winthrop (all in the Methow Valley), 1.2 miles at Ski Hill in Leavenworth, 1.6 miles at the Yacolt Burn State Forest, 7.5 miles at Alpine Baldy in Skykomish, 6 miles at No2 Canyon in Wenatchee, 10.5 miles at North Mountain in Darrington, 2 miles at Castle Rock in Wenatchee and 2 miles of new trail in Fall City. We also continued construction on 4 new trail projects across WA, totaling 20 miles when complete. We also began construction on new trail projects at Snoqualmie Summit, Mica Peak in Spokane, Mission Ridge/Devils Gulch in Wenatchee, as well as project design work for multiple new community bike trails and/or pump tracks, totaling more than 25 miles of new trail construction projects that will be completed in 2020/2021.
COMMUNITY BUILDING & ADVOCACY: Evergreen hosted 29 community events and 217 rides across our eight chapters. Our annual "Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day" drew an estimated 400 participants. In total, our rides and events engaged approximately 12,000 attendees in 2019. These events build community and grow the next generation of mountain bike leaders, teachers, volunteers, and trail stewards. Our community building efforts help build skill and confidence in youth, increase diversity in our sport, foster a conservation ethic and sustainable behavior amongst our community members, and encourage healthy lifestyles. We advocated for mountain bike access, new infrastructure, new trailheads and trail investments across the state. We collaborated with other local and regional recreation and conservation organizations, to help guide WA State recreation policy and economic development investments. Our advocacy is promoted via multiple e-newsletters, social media, and advocacy alerts designed to engage our members, supporters, and followers in their local public land policy, protection, and access issues, as well as statewide project development opportunities and issues. We hosted a Community Legislative Day bringing over 50 of our members and staff to the state capitol to meet with Legislators on the importance of investments in outdoor recreation for community health and tourism benefits. In addition, we supported the Washington Wildlife and Recreation Coalition Legislative Day with 5 staff to raise awareness about the economic impact of the recreation and outdoor industry in WA state. These events build community and grow the next generation of mountain bike leaders, teachers, volunteers, and trail stewards. Our community building efforts help build skill and confidence in youth, increase diversity in our sport, foster a conservation ethic and sustainable behavior amongst our community members, and encourage healthy lifestyles.
EDUCATION: Evergreen organized 205 group rides, classes, and clinics for mountain cyclists of all ages and skill levels. Our Cranksisters Women's program organized 94 group rides, engaging 439 female riders. In total, 906 students enrolled in our classes and clinics. Many of our rides are targeted to specific groups such as beginners, women, children and teens, and participants may join group rides free of charge (Evergreen membership is not required). 317 youth enrolled in our dirt camps. Our train-the-trainer program for instructors and ride leaders included 50+ instructors, and we provided 4 Trail School classes, engaging 73 students on the fundamentals of sustainable trail construction. In 2019, we opened one additional education program, to meet growing demand, hosting summer classes at Lacamas Park for riders in the greater Vancouver area. Combined with our youth Dirt Camp programs at Duthie Hill, BDOS, Swan Creek, Leavenworth Ski Hill, and Squilchuck SP as well as our ongoing adult clinics and private lessons across the state, we're seeing continued interest in growing mountain bike education services. With support from a T-Mobile Huddle-Up grant, Evergreen also improved statewide camp program operations with both registration and website technology updates. The Central Chapter received a grant from Crunch Pak to purchase a bike trailer and provide bikes to low income campers who do not have bikes, in effort to introduce more youth to the sport of mountain biking and eliminate barriers to participation. The Chapter utilized advertising space on the trailer to fund additional bikes and scholarships for youth. Our adult education program continued the recent trend of engaging more women than men this year, at 61% female (308) and 39% men (198). Our youth camp participation, however, still lacks participation among young girls, at 18% girls and 82% boys enrolled during the 2019 summer season.
NTEE category: Recreation & Sports
Secondary category: Environment