MVTC Fall Newsletter

This October, the Trails Collaborative is participating in Give Methow. If you are able, please contribute to our campaign. Your financial support will help the Trails Collaborative maintain trails for all users across the Methow Valley and continue its role as a productive forum for all trail related issues. Rebuilding the Lightning Creek bridge was the first major project the Trails Collaborative undertook since I started in April. The project highlighted what is possible when partners coordinate. MVTC volunteer days at Lightning creek resulted in representatives from Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance, The US Forest Service, and Northwest Motorcycle Association working side by side. These groups worked with the understanding that the Backcountry Horsemen or Methow Trails had just been on site during the weeks prior. Everyone was ready to do the work. The Trails Collaborative just needed to get them together. The result of this coordination is a new major trial bridge and connections between trail users. Your financial contribution will help MVTC facilitate more trail maintenance projects and the productive conversations that happen around them.

Thank you for your support,

Allen Jircik, Trails Manager

GIVE METHOW

A huge thank you to all that helped build the Lightning Creek bridge!

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Our impact this summer

Below is a table describing MVTC’s project accomplishments since the beginning of the field season in April.

Save-a-Trail project 2022

One of the last opportunities to volunteer with the Methow Valley Trails Collaborative this field season is fast approaching. Weather permitting, we will be hosting two volunteer days on the Driveway Butte trail #481 on Saturday, October 8th, and Saturday, October 15th. These days will focus on deferred tread maintenance to maintain this steep trail to a higher standard. MVTC will provide all tools, safety equipment, and instruction. Please join if you are able!

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Partner Highlights

Volunteers from the Northwest Motorcycle Association help source trees for a bridge

NMA becomes MVTC partner

The Methow Chapter of the Northwest Motorcycle Association and the Coulee Riders join the Methow Valley Trails Collaborative. The NMA “informs, educates, and organizes off-highway motorcyclists within Washington State, in order to preserve and expand off-highway motorcycling recreational opportunities.” The local chapter works every season to log out and maintain multi-use trails in the Methow Valley, including the Sawtooth Backcountry trails and the Beaver Meadows Area. In addition, the group has contributed to the MVTC’s collaborative tool cache and spent several days this summer volunteering at the Lightning Creek project. After the September Trails Collaborative meeting, we are excited to welcome them as our newest Trails Collaborative partner organization.

The Forest Service Trail crew on the completed Eureka Creek bridge

USFS rebuilds bridge

The Methow Valley Ranger District recently replaced a bridge on Monument Creek trail #484. This single-stringer log bridge crosses Eureka Creek at Mile Post 4 and will make crossing the creek early season safer. The previous bridge washed out in 2006. The trail is still unmaintained past Eureka Creek, but this bridge will provide easier access for work crews as well as trail users. Hiking to Eureka Creek is a lovely day hike or run, and the bridge is worth a visit.

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Legacy Trails Grant

A new grant opportunity, the Legacy Trails Program, focuses on trail improvements that will increase watershed health. This grant is administered by American Trails in partnership with the US Forest Service. Projects can focus on rerouting trails, replacing drainage structures that impede fish’s upstream travel, or trail bridge replacement. Priority will be given to projects that focus on existing trails rather than new trail development.