Each year, Evergreen volunteers contribute tens of thousands of hours toward trailbuilding, teaching classes and clinics, organizing community events, maintaining our website, and holding positions on local chapter and statewide boards.

Volunteers are absolutely paramount to Evergreen's success.

We recently asked our staff, trail crew, chapters and board to nominate any volunteers who they felt have gone to especially great lengths in 2019 to improve mountain biking in Washington. 

Next time you see these dedicated members of our community, be sure to give them a big high five and thank them for their efforts!

Here are the 2019 Evergreen Volunteers of the Year: 

 Ady Bee Lane

Chapter: Cascades to Sound

Volunteer Focus: Trails

Chapter Testimonial: “Ady has taken a central role in regular Sturdy Dirty Dig Days on the Canyon Creek DH construction project at Raging River. She has the ability to rally lots of ladies to help cut in this new trail. The Sturdy Dirty women contributed to the Predator build at Tiger and they’re still getting after it to get new trail built.” - Shawn Lorenz, Evergreen Trail Crew

Fun Fact: “I did a small personal dance in excitement when the Sturdy Ladies said they wanted to take on a more central role of the CCDH build.” - Shawn Lorenz, Evergreen Trail Crew

Alan Shepherd

Chapter: East

Volunteer Focus: Chapter Treasurer, Fundraising and Events

Chapter Testimonial: “Alan can juggle more than most and gets a LOT done. He's helped raise money for trails (Sekani Skills Park, Mica Peak and more) through events and community building. He's responsive when it comes to managing money and thinks creatively of how to do more.” - Shawna Sherman, Evergreen Finance Manager

Fun Fact: “Alan owns and runs a health food store! His first grandchild was born this year and he's helping with childcare, too!” - Shawna Sherman, Evergreen Finance Manager

 Andrea Crawford

Chapter: Kittitas

Volunteer Focus: Chapter Communication, Volunteer Coordination and Trails

Chapter Testimonial: “Andrea is the glue that holds our chapter together. She is one of the hardest working individuals in our county. This woman can wield any trail tool and coordinate others to join her, all while being thoughtful, considerate, and inclusive along the way. Andrea works hard to make this chapter accessible to anyone who show interest and genuinely pushes to make sure all voices are heard. Andrea has taken on our chapter newsletter to make sure everyone in our county has an opportunity to know what's going on and how to get involved!  Her desire has always been to bring people together for the greater good our our chapter and mountain biking as a whole.” - Jettrell Stetner, Evergreen Kittitas Board 

Fun Fact: “This lady can RIP! Andrea occasionally has a bad habit of doubting herself and her own abilities, but when she puts her mind to something on the trail, watch out! Andrea isn't taking any crowns on the uphill, nor does she care! But if you've stolen her downhill crown you better watch your back!” - Jettrell Stetner, Evergreen Kittitas Board

Brad Metz

Chapter: Central

Volunteer Focus: Trails

Chapter Testimonial: “Brad drops everything to come help with projects and is always willing to stay until the task is done.” - Alex Brieger, Evergreen Trail Crew 

Fun Fact: “Brad can hit jumps on lower ribbed after working all day, in Carhartts with a backpack on!” - Alex Brieger, Evergreen Trail Crew

John DeWitt 

Chapter: Kittitas

Volunteer Focus: Student League Coach and Trails

Chapter Testimonial: “John contributes over one hundred hours of volunteer trail work every year. He maintains the Coal Trax Bike Park and Student League Race Course almost single handedly and coaches and promotes the local WA student league team. John is one of our best local advocates in the community for mountain biking. All around good guy!” - Andrea Crawford, Evergreen Kittitas Board

Fun Fact: “John has the creepiest rad bike van I’ve ever seen!” - Andrea Crawford, Evergreen Kittitas Board

Josh Gewirtz

Chapter: Methow

Volunteer Focus: Board, Fundraising and Project Management

Chapter Testimonial: “Josh co-led fundraising efforts for Chickadee and Buck Mountain and completely killed it. Then he went on to project manage Chickadee and Buck Mountain, along with the Lewis Butte trail improvement and construction. He did all of this as a volunteer. Tremendous!” - Shawna Sherman, Evergreen Finance Manager

Fun Fact: “In addition to being an incredible Evergreen volunteer, Josh is also a doctor!” - Shawna Sherman, Evergreen Finance Manager

Julie Ellington

Chapter: Central

Volunteer Focus: Board, Trails, Everything!

Chapter Testimonial: “It’s often less difficult to give recognition to our most visible volunteers on the front lines of trail building. But it’s more difficult to recognize the people behind the scenes who have an equal impact. Julie Ellington is one of these people. Not only has she stepped up to help dig, but she also joined our board as treasurer. Her volunteer efforts included leading work parties EVERY week of the summer for our chapter’s largest trail project. Immediately upon being voted on to the board of directors she reformed our financial planning and budgeting processes. She also recognized our shortfalls in grant writing and applied for 7 grants– 2 of which were approved– raising thousands for our chapter. She helps with everything and is an invaluable part of the Evergreen organization.” - Ian Woodford, Evergreen Central Board

Fun Fact: “Julie is the soup master.” - Ian Woodford, Evergreen Central Board

Mark Schorn

Chapter: West Sound

Volunteer Focus: Trails

Chapter Testimonial: “The West Sound chapter is proud to nominate Mark Schorn as our Volunteer of the Year. We send this nomination in recognition of many years of dedication to local trails, with this year being just the tip of the iceberg. Mark was a founding member of the West Sound chapter of Evergreen and served as Vice President of the West Sound council for a number of years. Mark has worked tirelessly to save the land and trails in the Port Gamble forest. From the time in 1995 that Olympic Property Group (a private timber company) made it known that they needed to sell the land, Mark has worked to keep our gem of a trail network. Our successful efforts to raise the several million dollars needed to save the land would not have happened without him (this culminated in a successful purchase and transfer of the land to Kitsap County Parks in 2015). Since then and continuing today, Mark has volunteered countless hours for Evergreen, North Kitsap Trails Association, and the Kitsap County Parks department. Mark is always there, both in the halls and in the dirt. He organizes work parties to maintain the trails and is always in the trenches getting dirty with the gang. He attends enough meetings and schmooze parties to break even the most hardy trail builder. Meetings with county commissioners– he's there. Meetings with bureaucrats– he's there. Meetings with Evergreen– you get the idea. He advocates for trails. He advocates for our ride park. He lobbies for dollars. You name it, he's making it happen. We can't thank Mark enough for all he does!" - Evergreen West Sound Chapter

Fun Fact: “Mark’s first love is trails. His second is mushroom hunting and finding the perfect Shiitake.” - Evergreen West Sound Chapter 

Peter Sherrill

Chapter: Cascades to Sound

Volunteer Focus: Trails, Board, Ride Leader and General Radness

Chapter Testimonial: “Peter is everywhere from a C2S perspective focusing on trails, board positions, community outreach, etc. He’s been a huge part of the local community for as long as I’ve had anything to do with Evergreen. In addition, he’s taken on the role as official Tokul steward ensuring a great relationship with the land owners and helping to secure that as one of our most important trail systems.” - Kelly Amsbry, Evergreen Cascades to Sound Board

Fun Fact: “Peter is the reason I started working with Evergreen. Back about 10 years ago I knew nobody and didn’t have a clue how to get involved. Peter bought me a few beers and helped me find a way to get involved. He also has rad dogs.” - Kelly Amsbry, Evergreen Cascades to Sound Board

Rachel Robinson

Chapter: Cascades to Sound

Volunteer Focus: Crank Sisters Ride Leader, Community Engagement

Chapter Testimonial: “As the Crank Sisters’ Director of Rides, Rachel created the Ride Leader program, including training all potential ride leaders so that they can safely lead rides, as well as continue to build engagement with Evergreen. In turn, the ride leaders offer rides across the region, expanding rider engagement in Evergreen. In addition to training ride leaders, Rachel also leads many rides throughout the year. Rachel is also an Evergreen instructor and offers rides to students "graduating" from Evergreen classes. This helps those students continue to stay engaged in the mountain bike community.” - Jessica Peterson, Evergreen Crank Sisters

Fun Fact: “Rachel is an artist in her (very) spare time. Oh, and she can provide medical assistance to an injured squirrel on the trail (she's a vet).” - Jessica Peterson, Evergreen Crank Sisters

On behalf of Evergreen, thank you all for your amazing work!