As most of you Yakima riders are aware, the Ahtanum State Forest had to fund raise to keep this area open during the 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 seasons. The Discover Pass relieved the local snowmobile community of this fundraising burden.
After the fundraising of the 2010-2011 season, there were left-over funds (>$3700). A thank you letter was written and emails were sent out as to 1) return all funds on a % basis (above 20.00 donated) or 2) put the money towards an improvement in the Ahtanum that would benefit snowmobilers. Option #2 was selected by a roughly 80%/20% margin. A further meeting was held during the Ahtanum Cleanup last year as to what direction these funds should go to:
A) Warming shelter
B) Improvements to the parking area (picnic tables, etc)
C) Trail Improvement-Connector trail (groomable) from the Jackass Rd (just on top when it heads north across the Foundation Creek basin) to the North Fork Rd at the McClain Canyon intersection.
Option C was decided on due to the fact that the trail would be permanent, have the least amount of probable vandalism and be a benefit as to enlarging our riding area, especially on the years where the lower JackAss melts off or is un-groomable.
A detailed proposal was submitted to DNR, and an additional 1K
in grant monies
was received from WSSA for this project.
We have heard preliminary concerns from DNR and would like to set up a time for DNR and individual donors to go over the proposal and walk the proposed routes for the trail improvement. Unfortunately, my job schedule does not allow me really any time to meet with DNR during the regular work week (or most weekends, on my part
).
I am thus asking that any volunteers who want to help on this project please contact me at devin@greenacrefarms.com to set up a time that someone can walk the proposed trail with DNR personnel. We need to do this so we can keep this project going.
Please pass the word around if possible. These projects take time and I want to keep up with this and hopefully completed by this winter (or next
).
Thank you,
Devin Dekker
Yakima County Grooming Council
Yakima Ski-Benders
After the fundraising of the 2010-2011 season, there were left-over funds (>$3700). A thank you letter was written and emails were sent out as to 1) return all funds on a % basis (above 20.00 donated) or 2) put the money towards an improvement in the Ahtanum that would benefit snowmobilers. Option #2 was selected by a roughly 80%/20% margin. A further meeting was held during the Ahtanum Cleanup last year as to what direction these funds should go to:
A) Warming shelter
B) Improvements to the parking area (picnic tables, etc)
C) Trail Improvement-Connector trail (groomable) from the Jackass Rd (just on top when it heads north across the Foundation Creek basin) to the North Fork Rd at the McClain Canyon intersection.
Option C was decided on due to the fact that the trail would be permanent, have the least amount of probable vandalism and be a benefit as to enlarging our riding area, especially on the years where the lower JackAss melts off or is un-groomable.
A detailed proposal was submitted to DNR, and an additional 1K
in grant monies was received from WSSA for this project.We have heard preliminary concerns from DNR and would like to set up a time for DNR and individual donors to go over the proposal and walk the proposed routes for the trail improvement. Unfortunately, my job schedule does not allow me really any time to meet with DNR during the regular work week (or most weekends, on my part
).I am thus asking that any volunteers who want to help on this project please contact me at devin@greenacrefarms.com to set up a time that someone can walk the proposed trail with DNR personnel. We need to do this so we can keep this project going.
Please pass the word around if possible. These projects take time and I want to keep up with this and hopefully completed by this winter (or next
).Thank you,
Devin Dekker
Yakima County Grooming Council
Yakima Ski-Benders
