Our Club has made major strides in working with the public land managers to help them improve hiker access and low-impact user opportunities in each of the Alps jurisdictions. As before, we continue in our advocacy role, but now we are participating more than ever in design, construction, and in the funding of new trails, which will enhance the hiking experience for our members. As I look back over the many accomplishments of our Club during the past year it is clear to me that as individuals who have chosen to get involved, we have made a major difference. Twenty years later we remain an organization of individuals whose lives are, for the most part, much fuller than they were even 10 years ago. Whether we chose to give back out of an individual love of hiking and a desire to preserve great local opportunities or out of respect for what Harvey and our founders started, this is a Club of individuals who continue to make a difference.
Challenges lie ahead.
When Harvey started this organization, working with a handful of others, our initial trails were located almost entirely on private property, most of which would certainly be covered with houses now if we never existed. Now, major achievements have put much of the land on the higher elevations of Squak and Cougar mountains into public ownership and we are challenged to preserve and improve the access trails impacted by the clearing presently underway in the large Intercorp development on Cougar, as well as in the Issaquah Highlands development on Grand Ridge. On the Issaquah side of Tiger Mountain, the city s southeast bypass and the proposed residential and commercial Park Pointe Development threaten the High School Trail and other important pedestrian links to the conservation area. The bypass not only will divide Issaquah from our trail system, but also will encroach and consume many acres of DNR conservation area. Ultimately, much of the hillside above the high school and sportsman s club will be cleared and intensively developed unless our Club is successful in working with the city and others toward eliminating or minimizing the impacts of these two unfortunate projects.