The Sustainable Trails Coalition Is Heading to Capitol Hill

And we’re off!

The Sustainable Trails Coalition has officially raised enough money to hire lobbyists and begin their work on Capitol Hill! The STC sent out an announcement to all monetary donors yesterday, via email, announcing the success of their initial fundraising efforts.

One of many Wilderness trails that would be perfectly able to sustain mountain bike traffic. Buffalo Peaks Wilderness, Colorado. Photo: Greg Heil

So far, the STC has raised almost $50,000, which is enough to get their advocacy efforts started! However, they hope to raise $124,850 to fund an entire year of lobbying. If you haven’t donated to the Sustainable Trails Coalition yet, now is the time: action is being taken, and the work is underway!

Here’s the entire announcement from STC:

We Have Landed in Washington!

Dear Supporter of the Sustainable Trails Coalition,

We recently reached the hoped-for point where we had to decide to go forward or not. Based upon our fundraising, which has brought in almost $50,000 in just a few weeks, numerous positive articles in the press, and some great information from our DC advisers, we are happy to report that we hired those advisers. As a consequence, our money-back guarantee is no longer in effect. We are delighted to give you this great news.

Our representatives in Washington DC are now actively seeking legislators who understand the flaws in current legislation and are willing to try to fix them. Just last week they had a meeting with the Chief of Staff of a congressman (who will go unnamed at this time) and the response to our goals was extremely positive. We are hopeful that within a few months we will have more good news to report.

In the meantime, we still need more donations to fund the continuation of the work into 2016. So please share our information with your friends and associates. Remember, in addition to addressing the restrictions on 109 million acres of federal land, our success will remove the precedent that local land managers often look towards when determining local trail access. So our goals are far bigger than just national wilderness lands.

For more information, be sure to read my opinion piece about the Sustainable Trails Coalition, here.

Want to get involved? Donate to the Sustainable Trails Coalition now!