2023 Accomplishments
Noteworthy goals achieved elevating ride quality all season-long and rallying support for the future of Singletrack Radness.
DETAILS BELOW
Established funding to support hiring four part-time trail builders dedicated to maintaining Donkey Town Trail and other TDU sanctioned efforts including several new projects listed below.
Hired the OG trail building crew who has been volunteering as crew leaders since TDU’s inception and have spent decades creating some of the best trails in Truckee in the Coldstream Canyon area.
Secured funding to support a paid, part-time Executive Director position to maximize TDU’s positive impact and to lead TDU’s strategic growth initiative.
Established a volunteer grant writing committee.
Hired Luka Starmer to be a paid part-time grant writer. Luka is a Board Member of High Fives Foundation.
Submitted five grant applications. TDU has been awarded three so far. (Successes: Nevada County, Tahoe Trail Bar - 1% for the Planet, Alpenglow Donor Party).
Established accounting protocol and hired a part time accounting/advisor.
TDU hosted four Community Stewardship Events on Jackass Ridge working to improve the Donkey Town Trail and El Burro continuously throughout the riding season.
TDU recorded a record-high volunteer turn-out of 86 people on our first dig day of the year.
TDU tracked 28,695 laps ridden on Donkey Town Trail from April-November. This number is very large and will be used in communication efforts by TDU to help prove the community value of this stewardship project.
TDU hosted a stewardship collaboration with Sierra Buttes Trail Stewardship on the Boca section of the Connected Communities Project, turning out approximately 46 volunteers to help cut in the new trail section.
TDU hosted a sellout “Singletrack Radness” beer collab release party at Alibi Ale Works in Truckee, CA where we spoke about stewardship, presented TDU’s vision, and shared a film titled Esperanto by TGR about mountain biking and trail building.
TDU released two separate batches of “Singletrack Radness” Pale Ale and saw it on the shelves at Raleys One Market in Truckee and also made it available for CA statewide distribution through Golden Brands. Both batches sold out quickly. This initiative was manifested to help grow a deeper connection to trail building and stewardship in the Tahoe region. “Singletrack Radness” was Alibi’s most successful beer collab to date and it is said that the beer is likely to become a permanent taphouse handle for years to come.
TDU signed a first-of-its-kind trail adoption agreement with CA State Parks and is working to improve JP’s Trail and Lower Yogi Bear trail in collaboration with CA State Parks. This has been a great opportunity for TDU to manage a trail project from start to finish working with land managers through the necessary environmental protocols, tribal approvals, and more from concept to construction. TDU has now begun the reroute construction on JP’s trail.
TDU continues to be an active member of the California Mountain Biking Coalition (CAMTB) working closely with their Executive Director to form new land manager relationships and the U.S. Forest Service Region 5 Working Group.
Created the first-of-its-kind “Singletrack Report Radio Show” in collaboration with 101.5 Truckee Tahoe Radio where we logged eighteen episodes available to listen to in short-and-sweet sound bites right here. These radio episodes seek to make riding in Northern California more accessible and shareable as the rides open up throughout the season.
TDU hosted a community-wide Fourth of July “Parade Ride” and turned out an awesome group of trails advocates to support the effort in the heart of town. This effort was sponsored by 101.5 Tahoe Truckee Radio.
TDU Board members collaborated with the Truckee Dirt Riders moto club to help the U.S. Forest Service at an official USFS Boca Volunteer Work Day.
TDU’s volunteer field marketing team joined other select non-profit entities at the Alpenglow Mountain Film Tour as a non-profit organization benefit entity.
TDU continues to collaborate with USFS-Truckee Ranger District to create more improvements to the Donkey Town Trail Network. TDU is grateful for this partnership and thanks the USFS Truckee Ranger District team for their contribution.
Truckee Trails Foundation (TTF) has agreed to hand-off maintenance of El Burro trail to TDU (this is a major milestone in TDU’s collaboration with TTF). Thanks, TTF.
TDU submitted a second edition Donkey Town Trail Network trail proposal to USFS. The Donkey Town Trail Network proposal calls for incorporating/building five new trails in the Donkey Town Ridge area to create a more cohesive trail network accessible from town.
TDU’s Board of Directors launched a community board meeting shadow program as a means to grow our volunteer committee base and to add new vetted and qualified persons to our Board of Directors platform. So far, we have had three new people join our Board meetings to shadow. Interested? Email us.
TDU was featured on the “Mind The Track” podcast where founding TDU Board members took a deep dive into the why, what, when, and how TDU was born. Listen to learn more about TDU.
Looking forward to next year!
Sincerely,
Matt Chappell
Board Member/Executive Director
Greg Forsyth
Board Member/Development Chair
Skye Alsop
Board Member/Operations Chair
Dave Metres
Board Member/Outreach Chair
GP Martin
Board Member/Marketing Chair
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