The Year 2009 in Review

2009 was undoubtedly one of our most active and successful years in recent memory, beginning, most obviously, with the major rebranding effort, which culminated the adoption of a new name and logo for the organization.

Great progress was made in securing better mountain biking opportunities in Forest Park - the very issue around which the organization originally coalesced. After a well-publicized meeting with Portland Parks & Rec Commissioner Nick Fish, a new Singletrack Advisory Committee was formed to explore how and where to increase singletrack access in Forest Park. This past year, Northwest Trail Alliance also signed a trail care agreement with Portland Parks & Rec and the Forest Park Conservancy, which should improve goodwill towards mountain bikers as well as benefit the trails themselves. 

Other 2009 highlights: 
- Northwest Trail Alliance spearheaded significant trail advocacy efforts at Gateway Green, Powell Butte, Stub Stewart State Park, and in Washington County;
- NWTA volunteers built a state-of-the-art bike skills park, which was one the most popular attractions at the three Sunday Parkways events, held last summer in various Portland neighborhoods;
- A well-attended Tour de Tillamook, a two-day family event in the Tillamook State Forest, that included rides, bike demos, kids clinics, and overall good times hanging out around the campfire with friends.
- Northwest Trail Alliance volunteers put in close to 500 trailwork hours in the Mt St Helens area, a 60% increase from last year.
- The opening of new trails at the Sandy Ridge Trail System, an exciting new all-mountain trail system on BLM land, east of Sandy and north of Hwy 26.
- Throughout the year, we saw increased attendance at our monthly meetings, which featured great programs such as the much-liked presentation by Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance.

Last but not least, we ended the year with another major milestone: we signing a new charter agreement with IMBA, updated our bylaws, and became the first IMBA chapter in the Northwest!

2009 will go down in our books as a year of major change, a lot of renewed energy and some great new initiatives. Next year, we hope to built on that momentum with some exciting new programs we have lined up in the realm of advocacy, trail care & trail building, education, outreach, and a new-and-improved website. If you like to be involved in helping us move these rocks - and have some fun while we're at it - just give us a yell or come to our next membership meeting (on Jan 26 at the NW Lucky Lab). We are an all-volunteer organization and we can only accomplish our goals with the help of our members and passionate folks like you!