Read the Full Annual Report Here
We are pleased to bring you our 2023 Annual Report. You can read the full report here or click on an image below. Thank you for your continued support which truly allows us to further our mission of connecting our community to the outdoors through sustainable recreation.
Dear Trails Community,
It is with immense gratitude that I present our 2023 Annual Report, which showcases the remarkable achievements of our organization and the dedicated community that supports us.
Our theme for the year was “Trails for All. Trails Forever!” What does that mean you may ask?
Trails For All
Our community’s trails are for all to use and experience the transformative power of trails. We strive to encourage access for all of our community to experience our community’s trails, no matter what your ability level, race, ethnicity, age, gender, sexual orientation, income level, or political views.
Trails Forever!
The trails we know and love are here for us to experience today, tomorrow, and for generations to come. Our community is built on a culture of stewardship and strives to ensure our trails are maintained and sustainable to support a quality trail experience while protecting our natural resources and environment.
Trails provide an incredible amount of value for our community. They allow us to explore the public lands that surround us. They provide an opportunity to deepen our connection with nature. Access to trails is a benefit that provides an opportunity to socialize, improve our physical and mental health, enhance our quality of life, and directly reflects why we love living here. Trails support our community’s small businesses and economic vitality. Last but certainly not least, trails provide adventure, smiles, happiness, and fun (Type 1, 2, & 3)!
We encourage you to get outside and enjoy the amazing trails and access to public lands that surround us. We also want these trails, wildlife, natural resources, and ecosystem to not only survive, but thrive. Through your volunteering and stewardship, this is absolutely happening. As our population and trail use continues to grow, it’s only going to become more important to care for what we love.
Volunteers are the core of the VVMTA and are the ones who really make it happen out there. Through our Adopt A Trail program, Wednesday Night Trail Crew, Ladies Trail Crew, and HTC Trail Crew, over 1,400 volunteers contributed 4,600 hours of trail maintenance and stewardship projects. Wow, that is just truly incredible, what an amazing community we have! Those hours total a value worth over $150,000 that go right into our trails.
In its third season, the Trail Conservation Crew once again crushed it. This committed team of seven (7) locals explored and worked on our trails up and down our valley, putting in over 7,700 hours of trail maintenance, clearing trees, removing barbed wire fence, building bridges, and more. They were out there on a daily basis cleaning up and mitigating the impacts that we trail users have on our lands, ensuring not only that our trail experience stays top notch but also our natural resources stay healthy.
2023 was the second year of our newest program, Soul Dirt. Soul Dirt encourages sustainable, accessible recreation for the health of our community. When people can safely access outdoor spaces in our community, they experience the transformative power of nature, and they’re healthier in mind, body, and soul. Soul Dirt addresses inequality in that the people with the least access to the outdoors often stand to benefit most. Over 500 participants of which 8% identified themselves as LGBTQIA+, 34% Latino or Hispanic, 39% were new trail users, and 97% self-reported their happiness increased after the event.
Safe, fun, and diverse access is relatable to all trail users. With that, after more than five years of advocacy, we began building the Eagle Bike Park. The Eagle Bike Park is a highly demanded asset for the down valley community and dang, our community is stoked! Thanks to amazing support from the Town of Eagle, Mountain Recreation, and too many local businesses and individuals to name here (see our supporters page), we raised $350,000 to get this project rolling! As soon as the weather allows we will be back out there in the Spring of 2024 to finish it off and open it to the public.
2023 also brought in some new faces and events for the VVMTA. We hired our first ever Development & Engagement Manager, Nicky Asselin, who kicked butt fundraising for the Eagle Bike Park, our programs, and our organization. She was also essential in planning and executing our inaugural summer fundraiser event which brought in over $105,000 to support our trails! We also added Molly DeLallo, Trail Stewardship Coordinator, to our team to lead our volunteer programs. Molly’s passion, love for our trails, and excitement to engage our trails community is contagious. From a leadership standpoint, we also added a new board member, Megan Carter. Megan loves the outdoors and has based their career around the outdoors. They bring a great new and fresh perspective to our trails and board.
We have a lot of momentum going into 2024. We can’t wait to kick off the new season with you on some new and exciting projects and engagement opportunities to get involved. We could not have done any of this work without you and are incredibly grateful for your generous support.
Whether you volunteer your time or donate, thank you for all you do for us and our trails.
Sincerely,
Ernest Saeger
Executive Director
