Advocacy Festivals
From Evergreen Trail Guide
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ADVOCACY FEST
Advocacy Fests are free events held at the Kettle Crest Trails and Mt. St Helens trails in Washington State. Free camping will be provided along with rides and one Forest Service trail work party held. Kettle Crest and Mt. St. Helens are among Washington States premier backcountry riding areas.
A little history
Club rides were posted for Kettle Crest, the initial idea was to bring riders from the two major cities in Washington State together for a ride. BBTC (now Evergreen) and FTTRC (Fat Tire Trail Riders Club) were the clubs represented for the first years ride. The following years we added a campout and multiple rides, and although the Crest is a daunting 5 hour drive from Seattle, attendance has been strong each year, and feedback positive. It was the hope that these rides would help serve a fledgling group such as Spokane's young club. From ride reports, shared experiences on the trail, to campfire conversations bonds have been formed by mountain bikers that may never have existed, and ideas have been shared that have been helpful to all. The opportunity for networking in a relaxed environment where you get to meet and ride with people makes for stronger relationships.
It's all who you know
So many of us involved in advocacy work very hard in our region. Anyone who's been around awhile can recognize that all members have an impact. Sometimes our impact can be great from very little effort, in the form of an idea, or a solution to a problem we encountered that someone had not yet solved. Issues involving our National Forests deserve attention by our user group. We certainly need to be pro-active in conservation and stewardship efforts within them, this is an effective manner of doing that.
What issues are we concerned with?
Creating a fun event around a work party is a great way to not only promote and grow stewardship, but it's also effective means to showcase our groups trail work experience. Both Kettle Crest and Mt. St Helens may enter legislative changes that could possibly eliminate mt. biking access. Be that through stringent Wilderness Designation or reverting into National Park status. Even though mt. bikers have always helped maintain these trails, we're hoping to increase the trend. In the goodwill of the Fest we are showing the Forest Service, and demonstrating to the local community that mountain bikers can have a positive impact.
Whoah, is the work party mandatory?
No it is not. While we encourage anyone attending to make it, we believe in the value of not changing the definition of "volunteer". We want workers to want to be there to contribute and the work party is providing a special way for us to do so for those of us wishing to put in extra effort to volunteer. If you cannot make the work party and would still like to attend, you can still make a difference, please contact the primary event organizer/s on ways you can help chip in. It's not about measuring how strong the positive impact, so much as nurturing a positive environment.
So who do you want to attend?
Like i stated before, a more important goal is to expand the outreach to a much broader region. We want riders from Canada, Idaho, Oregon, Montana and anywhere else people are willing to travel from to get in on the rides. We want to share the hidden gems, assert a helpful presence, and help minimize the chances of unnecessary loss of access. We are hopeful that increased awareness will not only help the issues we face in these areas, but promote mountain biking by attracting the very best of us from abroad to one area. So if you are a member of a mountain bike advocacy group, you are invited, if you are not a member, join one and represent.
EVENTS
UPDATES
Check here to keep dialed in to updates, we will be making announcements soon on gracious sponsors.
GREATER REGIONAL OUTREACH
ATTN ADVOCACY CLUBS
For those in other clubs, i certainly hope you like the idea. If this conflicts with any major event your club was undertaking i personally apologize. We would certainly hope you extend invitations to all you know as an option to those interested. We hope you feel that this could be included as a club ride that simply merges into other club rides, so ownership is shared by all clubs who extend invitations to their members, and to the members who represent their club by attending.
This sounds like a cool idea!
To put it simply this is a typical Ride/Work Party but on a bigger scale. Will your club take the framework of these ideas and adopt them for a trail system which needs some help in your area? Please do! The possibilities are limitless as are of pristine riding areas being threatened with closure. My hope is this idea grows beyond me, beyond Evergreen, beyond Washington State... If there are multiple Regional Advocacy Festivals, what better way for some people to plan their vacations. To be provided by a free tour of a great area at risk or just in need of some work, and to help out a bit. Over the years i've met some great people and shared awesome trail at the Crest, am hopeful you and your peeps can attend. And am more hopeful this idea takes off to the next level, as i feel it would expand our effectiveness within mountain biking advocacy.
