UPDATE: Hood River Area Trail Stewards (HRATS)

By White Lotus Media on October 31, 2021 • ( 0 )

Hello Trail Folk,

We hope you’re enjoying the cooler weather and rain showers. Here’s our news for the week.

A follow up story, a thank you, and a teaser…

Remember the Protect Post Campaign that happened in the summer of 2019? We’re proud (and so very thankful) to say that thanks to the way our community came together, we were able to accomplish our primary goal: to help the County find a solution that will allow the hiring of the trail coordinator position.

Through YOUR support at Protect Post events, we raised a little over $26,000 in under 2 months(!!!) and we clearly demonstrated that access to Post Canyon is vital to the community. Following these events, the county found a solution to fund the position, allowing HRATS to put the money we raised right back into the Post Canyon Trail System.

Protect Post also delivered a strategic and valuable result: a better relationship with the county. HRATS was invited to be part of the hiring of the new trail coordinator, and we are very pleased that this stronger relationship has allowed us to move forward with important projects such as improving trail signage and an upcoming large scale Family Man renovation. (Stay tuned! More on this exciting project in next week’s newsletter!)

The county has also come to see that HRATS can help them communicate with trail users about trail closures, logging projects, fire danger, Covid restrictions, and the like. A good relationship has tangible rewards: Remember that blissful window in spring 2020 when the county re-opened Post Canyon to Hood River County residents? Yup, we helped with that.

Please accept our belated thanks if you participated in the Protect Post campaign. YOU are the driving force behind this progress and we are grateful for your support. As the county moves forward with more changes—like the recently proposed parking pass—we are here to answer your questions and continue to advocate for local trail users.

Trail work parties

We’d like to give a big round of applause to the awesome volunteers who came out for a rainy Saturday work party. We did maintenance work on BMS, Kleeway, GP, and Sister Wives. Thank you, volunteers! If you want to volunteer for another work party, sign up here.

HRATS 2022 Calendar Contest

WE NEEDS VOTES! Submissions and voting are only open through Halloween. Don’t be shy. Send us your best trail shots and then get your friends and family to vote for you. It all helps raise money for trails. Read all about it here.

Stay safe and happy riding! And thanks for reading this newsletter and passing it along.