Washington State Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan

[MasterChief]

Originally Posted by tod701

The corporate support they get allows them to have paid staff.
That makes a big difference in what you can accomplish on a day to day basis.

Who are their corporate sponsors?


Why don't we have them?


What about KTM, BMW, Yamaha, Polaris, Klim, Moose, Chysler (Jeep), etc?

[tod701]

Originally Posted by MasterChief

Who are their corporate sponsors?

I could guess, but i don't know off the top of my head.

They might give a clue here:

http://www.wta.org/

Originally Posted by MasterChief

Why don't we have them?

Because the salesman type that ride haven't stepped up and worked it and guys like me suck at that skill set.
It is a big issue and both the NMA and WOHVA would welcome help.

[kwisn]

Originally Posted by tod701

I could guess, but i don't know off the top of my head.

They might give a clue here:

http://www.wta.org/




Because the salesman type that ride haven't stepped up and worked it and guys like me suck at that skill set.
It is a big issue and both the NMA and WOHVA would welcome help.

I wish I was that guy. We need a couple. I try to get revved up to do something and end up writing a few e-mails and having a few conversations to further our pursuit. You would think that some of the hard chargers and driven set in this industry would see this as an opportunity to expand and protect their future investment. The major manufacturers and accessory biz people should be all over this. It would insure both of our futures.

[kwisn]

Originally Posted by guns_equal_freedom

Getting high and drunk to walk around the forest requires no special skill set.

Does too! The weak fall coming down the hill and only the strong survive.

[WetSideRider]

A quick look at the financials sez WTA pulls in about $2M a year. They spend about $300K on outreach, including a full time lobbyist at $55K and a full time fund raiser at about $70K.

The bulk of their cash comes from donations and grants. I'll guess about $500K is individual donations. About $350K is membership fees, and the rest is grants, I suppose. Interestingly, they get about $300K from trail maintenance, using young, energetic outdoor folks to manage volunteer trail maintenance contracts for various entities. Their outgo for trail maintenance exceeds their income, however. The rest (let's say $800K) comes from grants and corporate donations chased by the fund raiser. Not a bad return on a $70K investment.

I personally don't think the WTA model would work for motorsports. How many young adults would dedicate a couple of years of their lives to manage motorized trail projects in Washington at minimum wage?

Our hobby is too expensive, so no dedicated young racer is going to take a job building trails at the expense of keeping a competition machine in working order. I know a couple of college educated kids personally who do work for peanuts and sleep on the ground to maintain trails for contractors other than WTA. They don't even own cars, let alone expensive motorized toys. Different mindset.

[shrubitup]

Originally Posted by WetSideRider

A quick look at the financials sez WTA pulls in about $2M a year. They spend about $300K on outreach, including a full time lobbyist at $55K and a full time fund raiser at about $70K.

The bulk of their cash comes from donations and grants. I'll guess about $500K is individual donations. About $350K is membership fees, and the rest is grants, I suppose. Interestingly, they get about $300K from trail maintenance, using young, energetic outdoor folks to manage volunteer trail maintenance contracts for various entities. Their outgo for trail maintenance exceeds their income, however. The rest (let's say $800K) comes from grants and corporate donations chased by the fund raiser. Not a bad return on a $70K investment.

I personally don't think the WTA model would work for motorsports. How many young adults would dedicate a couple of years of their lives to manage motorized trail projects in Washington at minimum wage?

Our hobby is too expensive, so no dedicated young racer is going to take a job building trails at the expense of keeping a competition machine in working order. I know a couple of college educated kids personally who do work for peanuts and sleep on the ground to maintain trails for contractors other than WTA. They don't even own cars, let alone expensive motorized toys. Different mindset.

Suggest 100 - old (40+) guys volunteer 16 actual hours per year of trail work. 1600 hours seems like it could get attention. Rounding up 100 dirt bikers is a tough thing to do unless it`s the Desert 100 race. I log more than that each year to ride my secret squirell trails and would move that to the Interstate 5 of trail areas (Taneum, GPNF) if I could count on 99 other volunteers.

[NW Neil E O]

Originally Posted by shrubitup

Suggest 100 - old (40+) guys volunteer 16 actual hours per year of trail work. 1600 hours seems like it could get attention. Rounding up 100 dirt bikers is a tough thing to do unless it`s the Desert 100 race. I log more than that each year to ride my secret squirell trails and would move that to the Interstate 5 of trail areas (Taneum, GPNF) if I could count on 99 other volunteers.

This is awesome...

[tod701]

NEW QUESTION
++++++

Dear Friend of Outdoor Recreation,

Thanks for your past contributions to our discussion on the Town Hall website. We have posted a new question where we would like your thoughts—this time about wetlands and recreation.

Do you visit wetlands for recreation and why are they important to you? What role should wetlands play in enhancing outdoor recreation?
That’s the fourth set of questions the Washington State Recreation and Conservation Office (RCO) is asking people as it looks to revise the state’s strategic plan for outdoor recreation. We’d like your thoughts.

You can respond by visiting our Recreation Town Hall Web site at (www.scorpwa.wordpress.com) where you can quickly share your views.

Also, please tell your friends and help us spread the word.

The state’s outdoor recreation strategic plan, called the State Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan (SCORP), needs to be updated every 5 years to maintain our ability to receive federal funding from the Land and Water Conservation Fund. RCO uses these federal dollars for grants to local communities to build parks and trails, and conserve wildlife habitat. The SCORP addresses the future recreation needs of our residents and helps guide decisions about what projects to fund.

Your input is crucial to understanding what’s important to include in the plan.

Thanks for your help in planning for the future of outdoor recreation in Washington!

___________________
Michael Fraidenburg, Town Hall Moderator

[guns_equal_freedom]

My brother-in law owned property on Whidbey Island.

His neighbor built a diversion berm to keep the water from running down the hill and into his barn.

That water was now going into the pasture of my BIL's property.

Island County and the state were doing wetland surveys and declared that his pasture was now protected wetland.

He fought them for over three years with no positive results.

That summer the road crew stopped at his property and started digging in his pasture.

When he asked them what was going on they told him that when the contractor had raised the roadbed they had burried the drain pipe.

They uncovered the drain, fixed the pipe and cleared out the drainage lagoon.

Within a couple of weeks the pasture was dry.

The state and county refused to reclassify my BIL's property so he sold it and moved.

[guns_equal_freedom]

Current Question - Should we maintain what we have or try new things?

http://scorpwa.wordpress.com/

[tod701]

New question posted.


A last question is now posted for your comment—this time asking about what you do, and do not want to see happen with outdoor recreation in Washington.


You can respond by visiting the Town Hall Web site at (www.scorpwa.wordpress.com) where you can quickly share your views.

[wbedient]

Originally Posted by tod701

New question posted.


A last question is now posted for your comment—this time asking about what you do, and do not want to see happen with outdoor recreation in Washington.


You can respond by visiting the Town Hall Web site at (www.scorpwa.wordpress.com) where you can quickly share your views.

The horse crowd is hitting this one hard and heavy.

Get on there and tell 'em what we want for our bikes!

[1911fan]

Originally Posted by wbedient

The horse crowd is hitting this one hard and heavy.

Yes they are! We need to hit back, hard, before somebody concludes horse people are the majority of users. So far, that's almost entirely who has been posting- horse people.

Get to it, brothers and sisters!


1911fan

[Wilder]

Bump! There is still time to comment! DO IT!

[tony the tiger]

Apparently my comments on horse manure was unacceptable... maybe the moderators there have an agenda. I didn't say anything objectionable...