For the 2021 Washington Legislative Session due we were forced to schedule all meetings with Legislators via the now oh-so familiar virtual world of Zoom.  We narrowed our focus for effectiveness and called in chapter representatives and staff to attend project and region specific meetings with House representatives and Senators.  Our goal was to reach  representatives who serve areas where Evergreen has  upcoming projects and/or opportunities and we want to make sure they fully support recreation funding requests made by the WWRC and our State agencies. 

Evergreen staff, Chapter reps, board members, and key mountain biker constituents formed a team of 18 people who participated in 15 meetings over 7 days in late February. We spoke on your behalf to make sure lawmakers are familiar with trail projects in their districts, and we urged each of them to support full funding for operating and capital budgets for our key agency partners including the Washington State Department of Recreation, Washington State Parks, and Department of Fish and Wildlife.

During these meetings a number of bills related to trail and parks funding, bicycle group ride permitting, critical habitat restoration, ebike sales tax exemptions, as well as other ebike bills were in play.

For a detailed look at Evergreen’s 2021 Legislative Priorities, check out the document below: