Leading a Trail Organization

In this episode, host Tom Butler revs up for National Senior Health and Fitness Day with details on the upcoming Cycling Over Sixty Strava Club Group Challenge. He then gets real about the challenges of maintaining a healthy lifestyle, sharing a glimpse of his own dietary debates with his wife. Their conflicting views of what fuels metabolic health recovery has Tom feeling less than fully supported.

Later, Tom welcomes Shayla Miles, Executive Director of the Foothills Trail Coalition, to the show. Listen in as Tom chats with Shayla to learn more about what is needed to lead a trail organization and the work they do to keep the community rolling.

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Please send comments, questions and especially content suggestions to me at tom.butler@teleiomedia.com

Show music is "Come On Out" by Dan Lebowitz. Find him here : lebomusic.com

Transcript

Tom Butler: 0:04

This is the Cycling Over 60 podcast, season two, episode 43,. Leading a trail organization and I'm your host, tom Butler. Thank you for joining me for another week of my cycling adventures as I look to get and stay fit later in life. If you go to the Cycling Over 60 Strava Club, you will see some information on the National Senior Health and Fitness Day Challenge. We are celebrating National Senior Health and Fitness Day by setting a group ride challenge. Senior health and fitness day by setting a group ride challenge. I will be giving a $50 REI gift card to a random club member who rides next week, as we look to do at least 3,500 miles for the week. I actually think this is a light goal, since last week we collectively rode for 3,000 miles, but the focus is to see just how far we can go. Take a moment to become a member of the club and keep posted on our progress next week.

Tom Butler: 1:06

I frequently ride an exercise bike after I eat to help take the post-meal spikes off my blood sugar. I will normally put in 30 to 40 minutes on the exercise bike in a day. Even if I'm going for a bike ride, I like to do some time on the exercise bike immediately after I eat. This week I put some SPD pedals on the exercise bike. My wife Kelly has never ridden with clipless pedals, so I put them on the exercise bike so she could get used to clipping in and out. That means that I started clipping in for my exercise bike rides for the first time. I found something very interesting. It is a difficult workout for me to pedal with only one leg. Now. I think that means that I am not pedaling in a circle as effectively on my road bike as I should be. I don't seem to have much strength when I'm pulling up on the pedal. I am really excited to discover this. I think doing a few minutes of one leg pedaling daily will translate to getting more out of my pedaling on the real bike. I'll be interested to see if that pans out. I am going to run this by a physical therapist next week. He is a cyclist and I'd like to see what he thinks about this idea.

Tom Butler: 2:12

I'm continually looking for information that will help me reverse insulin resistance and restore metabolic function. I am not alone in looking for suggestions. My wife Kelly is an avid seeker of healthy living knowledge. We are now, however, having a bit of conflict concerning what dietary choices are best for me. She has become convinced that I need to eat very low fat if I'm going to have long-term success. She believes that it is important for me to eat carbohydrates. I, on the other hand, am equally convinced that I need to restrict carbohydrates and continue to eat a relatively high-fat diet.

Tom Butler: 2:47

Now you might be thinking why is this difficult? I know that Kelly wants nothing more than for me to be healthy and she wants me to feel supported, but the truth is she thinks I'm making poor decisions when it comes to meal choices. That means, when she sees me struggling, she feels compelled to try and steer me to what seems to her to be better choices. That means, when she sees me struggling, she feels compelled to try and steer me to what seems to her to be better choices, and that feels to me like she is being unsupportive. In fact, I want to avoid sharing when things aren't going well right now to keep from getting the message that I'm messing up. I believe that this is one of those things that is going to require some expert advice if we are going to become unified in the battle against my metabolic dysfunction. I have some specific problems with the information that Kelly is studying, but I need an expert in carbohydrate and fat metabolism to help clarify things for me. I do think I've found someone who would be perfect to shed some light on the issue, so wish me luck as I reach out to her, and if you know someone that does a lot of studying in this area, I would love a suggestion about who I could talk to as well.

Tom Butler: 4:00

I have so much respect for people who administer organizations that focus on bringing something good to communities while at the same time, dealing with financial and other resource restrictions. I have an organization like this that benefits me immensely, and that is the Foothills Trail Coalition. This is the organization that focuses on helping the trail to be the best it can be for the community. I see trails as so vital to my cycling success, and I wanted to invite Shayla Miles, foothills Trail Coalition Executive Director, to join me to discuss what it's like to lead a trail organization. Here's our conversation. As a listener of this podcast, you know that I spend a lot of time on the Foothills Trail, and it gives me so many opportunities to appreciate the work that goes into a great trail, so I'm really fortunate today to be joined by Shayla Miles, executive Director of the Foothills Trail Coalition. Shayla, thank you for joining me.

Shayla Miles: 4:53

Thanks for having me.

Tom Butler: 4:54

Now, the first question I'd like to ask is do you have any memories of bicycling as a kid?

Shayla Miles: 5:00

Yeah, I love this question. It had me dig deep in my memories. I grew up in Kitsap County and Kitsap County doesn't have a ton of safe trails and sidewalks and and that sort of. I sort of bring that kind of history and feeling you know to my work because I know it's a barrier for a lot of folks in Pierce County where the Foothills Trail is located. So that's that's what I would say, is I my? My memories are like bicycling in my driveway, which was like straight uphill, which was obviously not super fantastic.

Tom Butler: 5:51

Well, I am familiar, you know, with Kitsap County. I've done a couple organized rides out there and some other rides out there and it is a hilly place and I should say it's getting better.

Shayla Miles: 5:56

There's a lot of Kitsap County to expand trails and make it just a really safe place for bicyclists and active transportation. But you know, growing up there, especially in my neighborhood, it was definitely not a place where I felt safe. I could ride on the streets to like school or wherever.

Tom Butler: 6:14

Gotcha, can you talk about your background and it seems like you have an interest in furthering the work of nonprofit organizations, and could you talk a bit about that?

Shayla Miles: 6:24

Yeah, and I just I've had the opportunity to work in a number of different fields, which is really a strength I think I bring to this position.

Shayla Miles: 6:32

So I've worked as a teacher, as a restaurant manager, a wine director and for the past eight years or so have worked in the nonprofit sector, specifically in fundraising, although I've worked at sort of small nonprofits, which has sort of required me to wear multiple hats.

Shayla Miles: 6:48

So I've led programs and events that I've managed volunteers and I've worked with donors to help connect them to the amazing causes and grow the impact of the organizations I've worked for. And then I also had the opportunity to get my master's in public administration with a focus on nonprofit leadership. The opportunity to get my master's in public administration with a focus on nonprofit leadership and that just really brought out this like passion for the nonprofit sector and I think, just in general, it has a potential to solve really big problems. So nonprofits, I feel like, can be so much more nimble than governments while at the same time being really trusted partners in communities and have a little bit more reach into communities than I think governments can have sometimes. So I've seen that really clear clearly in my experience working for the Foothills Coalition and I just continue to be interested in finding ways to contribute to the nonprofit field, especially, you know, in light of what I'm seeing and learning as I work at the Foothills Coalition and specifically work with a lot of different government agencies.

Tom Butler: 7:53

I think it's fantastic and I do think it's a certain kind of skill to, when you're working with the stakeholders of a nonprofit organization and people, to get passionate about it and to harness that passion and to understand that passion. I think that's fantastic. What attracted you to the Foothills Trail Coalition?

Shayla Miles: 8:13

Yeah, I mean, if things are going well, I'm on a trail most days in my life. After I gave birth almost three years ago my daughter will be turning three in June I had a really bad health scare and just getting out and walking on the trail nearby my house I live by the pipeline trail in Tacoma it was really a lifeline and I think the importance of trails and communities also just have a number of aspects that I find myself really interested in working to contribute to. So trails as a way to encourage recreation, connection to nature, they are free and accessible means for activity, especially, you know, as we were in COVID and coming out of COVID, you didn't have to pay to use a trail like, and gyms were shut down. So they also just have that incredible health benefit to those who choose to use trails. I also think they're really interesting from an economic development perspective. They spur on trail-based tourism for businesses.

Shayla Miles: 9:15

I know for me, like whenever I go and look at a trail, I want to know okay, what are the coffee shops and restaurants? What can I do, you know, when I finish the trail? Or maybe, you know, use the trail on the way out and get a coffee or a beverage and then come back. I also think that they are a really interesting strategy and actually recent studies from the International Panel on Climate Change just put out this great study about how trails can be a key strategy in the effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from vehicle use. So I think health benefits, connection to nature, economic benefits, safe access to recreation, improving our environment that hits on like a lot of the things that I find myself caring about in my day-to-day life.

Tom Butler: 10:00

Can you describe the Foot Hills Trail Coalition as an organization? Has it been around a long time, what's kind of the background and what is the way that it functions?

Shayla Miles: 10:12

expansion, maintenance, promotion, advocacy of, specifically, the Foothills National Recreation Trail, though we do a lot of work for trails in general in Pierce County and trails trail funding in the state, which I can talk more about. But you know, I think of a trail like a linear park that spans multiple government jurisdictions and landowners, as opposed to a regular park right, that's just in one place, and so those different government jurisdictions and landowners, as opposed to a regular park, right, that's just in one place, and so those different government jurisdictions and landowners don't naturally collaborate necessarily. And so the coalition really brings those stakeholders together while amplifying the community voices to make sure that we get those community voices heard in trail development. And because we're a nonprofit organization, we can truly be a nimble partner to our government counterparts, helping to fill in gaps or add capacity in the various aspects of trail development, maintenance and programming. So hopefully that was like a kind of a, in a nutshell, a good sort of foundation for what we do or kind of what we can do. Now. The coalition itself has been around for 40 years now and has really just been a powerful force in the community for the Pierce County trail system and you know, truly the Foothills Trail would not be what it is today without the Foothills Coalition and I mean this truly, from the on-the-ground work they've done to building the trail and maintaining the trail, to fighting some of the petitions to stop the trail. There was the Citizens Against the Trail group back in the 80s and 90s and so the coalition was really able to again be that nimble partner where the government couldn't necessarily take a political stance. The coalition was able to come in and support the trail and really mobilize people in support of it.

Shayla Miles: 12:08

Our organization has gone through many phases. It started as really a volunteer-led community organization. They had this vision for converting the old railroad line to a trail system. That has been you know, that is a movement that's been happening across our country and, as I mentioned, they did a lot of on the ground maintenance, trail building. There was a courtesy patrol and, like I said, a history of fighting those anti-trail petitions.

Shayla Miles: 12:35

In keeping with the needs of our partners, the coalition has really professionalized over the last year. So we've changed sort of the way we operate, where now we have staff and, you know, have created a five-year strategic plan to really lay out our vision for how the coalition will help support the build-out of the Foothills Trail in the years to come. Again being responsive to our government partners, we're now taking on projects such as helping to build a new trailhead and helping to leverage large sums of money for big trail infrastructure projects like the White River Pedestrian Bridge, which I know everyone is super excited about, that's going to open later this year, and also bringing in new partners to help move trail development forward. We just secured a National Park Service Technical Assistance Grant which will add expertise and capacity to help expedite the development of the trail in the Carbon Canyon.

Shayla Miles: 13:30

We do remain true to our roots. We're still volunteer-led in terms of our board. We have 16 excellent board members, volunteers and a number of other volunteers who come out and do everything from trail maintenance to help me with the website, so definitely moving in a more professionalized direction to help with the needs of the county, which are really, you know, there's a lot of gaps, there's a lot of issues around capacity, but we still have that strong volunteer and community base and background.

Tom Butler: 13:56

I imagine every trail is somewhat different. There's quite a network of rails or trails out there now and I see the Foothills Trail as being unique, but I also see that there must be a lot of similarities. I imagine that behind every well-maintained, well a trail with good amenities and things like that, you talked about it being a park, like maintenance of not just the pavement but what's around the pavement, I'm guessing that any trail that has that across the nation also has a group of people kind of like the Foothills Trail Coalition behind it.

Shayla Miles: 14:33

Yeah, I think it depends. But I think usually if it's really a world class trail system and has a lot of resources, it generally takes a lot of citizen advocacy, because typically trails are part of parks departments and typically parks departments are sort of the last thought in any budget, just because they're really not seen as essential services, which of course I would argue vehemently against. But to make a trail it takes a landowner, usually a government jurisdiction. It takes a plan. So you have to have some sort of documented plan. There's feasibility studies and permits and all of these sort of again sort of this government way of building, you know, physical capital objects and then having a plan to maintain it of course.

Shayla Miles: 15:31

So a landowner, a plan, and then the third part is sort of the people right, community voices. They can serve as advocacy, they can help leverage funding, as the coalition does, where we can help raise money for a match to show some community support. That really gets points awarded in a lot of state and federal funding grant cycles. So that's when I say we've leveraged $3 million for the White River Bridge. We were able to come in and provide that match component and help get that $3 million grant from the Recreation Conservation Office in Washington. So yes, I think there are different models and it looks very differently just based on the location and, again, sort of that political appetite for getting trails built.

Tom Butler: 16:25

but having the community voice, having a nonprofit that can sort of be that back backbone of support and advocacy and community voices, is really crucial I think now I am biased, clearly you know I'm on the trail all the time, but do you think it's justifiable to label the Foothills Trail as one of the best trails in the nation?

Shayla Miles: 16:48

I mean, absolutely it's justifiable and it's designated as a national recreation trail for a reason.

Shayla Miles: 16:55

So it's this designation that really just indicates our country's sort of highest caliber trails, with the intention of kind of showcasing trails, recreation access, that have sort of that rural and urban community component. And so you know, the Foothills Trail, I think, is unique in that it really has that rural beauty while still having access to larger cities. So I mean you are almost feel like you're at the footsteps of Mount Rainier and certainly the vision for the trail is actually to extend all the way to Mount Rainier National Park, to the Carbon River entrance side, so you get those incredible views of Mount Rainier and the foothills, but then you also have access to larger cities like Puyallup, and then again the future vision is to have it come all the way into Tacoma. So just an incredible mix of, you know, beautiful scenery, amazing streams. It goes over, you know, south Prairie Creek, which is one of the biggest salmon bearing creeks in Pierce County, but then access to, like, great coffee and great restaurants and just it's really fantastic.

Tom Butler: 18:02

And just it's really fantastic. It's bookend by some pretty amazing natural things. You know you've got Mount Rainier. When you're riding on the trail like Mount Rainier, you feel like you're riding to Mount Rainier because it's just right there in front of you the whole time on the trail and then you know, eventually ending up the other side on the Puget Sound, I mean, it's just again. It's a trail that runs between some really cool places and then through some really cool places and seeing, you know, even just kind of near me in South Prairie, where you know you see the farm history basically of Washington State.

Shayla Miles: 18:40

Well, and just some places that I mean you might otherwise not go to unless you, you know, worked there or lived there. But I mean just I don't know if you've ridden to Buckley, but like I love Buckley, Like I love their downtown Main Street. I mean South Prairie, too, has a great little coffee stand, trailside Espresso. I think it's just really incredible that you could have this combination of natural beauty as well as just like great places to form a restaurant person. I just I love a good like drink or coffee experience.

Tom Butler: 19:14

Now, balancing the needs of various trail users, I imagine can be challenging. And I'll tell you, I think I had an experience that very few people have on any trail anywhere. I'm riding along and someone's walking their calf on the foothills trail and so I thought, you know, that is like a fantastic statement to me and I wish so bad I would have stopped and just asked some questions and like what's the story here? You know, is this your 4-H calf that you're out exercising or just what you know? What's the story here? Did it get away and you're walking at home? But there's a lot of different users on the trail with a lot of different interests. There's hikers and cyclists and horseback riders and others. I'm wondering if you could talk a little bit about how that gets balanced.

Shayla Miles: 20:04

Yeah, that's a great question and I think it really takes intention. You know, from the coalition standpoint we really try to cultivate a board of directors to represent those various interests and voices and user groups and also just from different locations along the trail. We would love to hear more from equestrians, from horseback riders the trail. We would love to hear more from equestrians from horseback riders. I'm, you know, I grew up in not like big cities, but yes, it is striking when you're like, oh, there's a horse right there. So you know, we'd love to get some equestrian voices on our, on our board. That we do, you know, of course, have a strong partnership with the Backcountry Horsemen of Pierce County, so I'm grateful for that. But yeah, the coalition, we can help direct folks to horse trailer parking where it might not be kind of a focus of maybe some of the county signage or other, you know, jurisdiction signage. We can help provide that, since it does tend to be sort of geared towards walkers, runners and, you know, cyclists.

Shayla Miles: 21:03

I think another interesting thing that we're sort of grappling with is that the e-bikes right. So balancing the need and sort of the convenience of e-bikes that can go a little bit, you know, that can go faster, with some of the areas on the trail that are really busy, like right outside of Orting, there's just this, always this really busy stretch where you get a ton of kids and it's right by the skate park, and so it is a challenge. But you know, that's where we try to be really intentional about how we communicate and just having an effort. You know an faq on our, on our website, and we always try to be really responsive to questions on facebook, because we do get a lot of those questions about, you know, speed limits for e-bikes and where can horses park. So it's a balancing act.

Tom Butler: 21:46

We definitely need to get more folks on our board that have that represent a broader range of users, but I feel like we do a pretty good job responding, you know, as those issues come up, I recently attended an open board meeting for the coalition and I thought there were a couple issues that were discussed that illustrated maybe some of the unique challenges that can be brought about when administering the coalition.

Tom Butler: 22:13

I'm guessing that there are times when in your role that there's like competing interests that you have to kind of mediate between or kind of figure out how to get people all moving the same direction that have different views. One of the issues that was talked about was that there is a bridge closure. Now I live up really near Buckley and so there's this bridge closure that kind of divides the plateau that Buckley's on from the valley that a lot of the trail goes through, like through Orting and Puyallup, so it's a significant segment of the trail. I'm wondering if you could talk about, kind of in your role, how some of the challenges that are there, some of the things that you think strategically, everything about that key bridge being closed. Yeah, and it's sometimes it can get challenging right, Because the that are there, some of the things that you think strategically, everything about that key bridge being closed?

Shayla Miles: 23:06

Yeah, and it's sometimes it can get challenging, right, because the Foothills Coalition, we are a nonprofit, we are not the government landowner, we are not the trails owner or we don't really have.

Shayla Miles: 23:19

I mean, of course we have say we have influence, but we, you know, we can't open and close the trail. That is, that lies within the power of Pierce County. And so it can be a challenge when, yeah, people are upset with the coalition for something that you know truly we can't really control. Now, that being said, the coalition has a really strong relationship with Pierce County, with Pierce County Parks specifically. That is, the entity of the county that owns and operates and maintains the Foothills Trail. And so you know there are competing interests, but it is in everyone's interest I want to make this really clear. It is in everyone's interest to reopen the trail, right, because that bridge that it's called we refer to it as Spiked and Ditched Bridge it being closed is a huge issue, as you mentioned, from preventing folks from accessing the full 21-mile trail, and not only because we're at the start of the warm weather season, where we see an increase in recreational trail usage, but also because the Foothills Trail is a transportation lifeline in the more rural parts of the county where there's really no public transportation, rural parts of the county where there's really no public transportation. Or you know folks who don't have access to vehicles. They use the trail to get to work or to go grocery shopping, or you know all of their daily services. So people use the trail to bike or work or access those services. So a prolonged trail closure is really the last thing that we want to see.

Shayla Miles: 24:49

I think where the coalition, I think, think, shines and has strength here is we have really good relationships, not only with parks, but we have cultivated relationships with, you know, the public policymakers, the decision makers, which in this case is really the Pierce County Council, pierce County Parks and the Pierce County Executive, and so we have been reaching out to those council members, meeting with them and really talking about our priorities with this bridge, which is getting it open. I mean, a two to three year closure is really unacceptable for the reasons that I just mentioned, and so, again, the coalition as a nonprofit can be nimble. So we want to make it clear to the county that we are really offering our resources and anything we can do to help get this bridge replaced or repaired, whatever the county decides that they need to do sooner than that two to three year timeline that's been laid out. And just to be clear, that two to three year timeline is because it takes a lot of time for a government typically to complete a public project and there are safety reasons for that. There are due diligence reasons for that right. Anytime a government agency spends public funding there needs to be a certain procurement process. That happens before the government can just go and spend money, right? They don't want to see government entities just spending money pell-mell, right. So that in this case is a detriment because the county has trusted contractors that they regularly use that could be fired and come in at a much quicker process than perhaps what the current process is going to look like. So that's one piece where we're kind of coming in and sort of pushing on that to make it quite clear that we'd really like to see the process be quicker than that two to three year timeframe.

Shayla Miles: 26:51

The other piece of it is providing some sort of interim solution, typically for trail closures. There's no detour offered and I understand sort of why that decision usually is the case. Usually trail closures are not very long and have sort of limited impact. It's not like a bridge or a you know some sort of vehicle route that would need a detour. In this case it's really challenging, right, because it goes through, as you mentioned, it goes through a canyon. There's a reason there's a bridge there and there's not really a safe route. You know, bicyclists are using the highway, state route 162. And the coalition has done some, some work reaching out to wash dot to get some side sweeping so it's not as rocky or, you know, debris filled, so it's a little bit less harrowing for bicyclists to use the highway. Right, but that's not ideal. One, two, it's really scary. I've heard from cyclists who feel like they're putting their lives on the line by riding that highway to get around the closure. And, of course, the county is not going to send, you know, kids who bike on the trail right, they have a high standard right for providing a safe detour.

Shayla Miles: 28:04

So, in the interim, then, the coalition is going to continue to ask the question what are the creative solutions being done? What are? What have other organizations been done to? You know, maybe we don't provide a you know a full detour that can allow for bicycle traffic, but maybe there is a reinforced, very you know sort of simple steel bridge that can transverse another section of the canyon, that people can get off and walk their bikes across, one at a time, or what are some other creative solutions so we can have just something in the interim while the bridge is repaired or replaced that longer process. We need a temporary solution.

Shayla Miles: 28:43

So that's the second thing. And then finally, like I said, the coalition is just going to be really clear that our resources are available, our sort of the man-woman person power is available. Capacity is often an issue in these situations, right? So there's only a couple people working on this issue at parks because there's limited staff. So how can the coalition come in and offer our resources and time to help the county, to help the Parks Department, get this situation solved?

Shayla Miles: 29:14

And then, I know this is a long-winded response, but I'll just say one more thing that, just again, this kind of speaks to sort of the overall issue I alluded with. You know, not in every situation or government, but certainly with Pierce County. You know, with Pierce County, you know it oftentimes can feel like parks is treated sort of as that that you know, oh, we can cut from parks or oh, we can, you know, take away funding where it might be needed. So I just think you know in summary I think this just speaks to the larger issue of needing to adequately fund our parks departments that you know trails aren't just used for recreation. Recreation isn't something that is, you know, not important to communities. Communities really want access to trails. Trails provide one of the only free, accessible means of recreation outside of our public parks for people, and so we need to fund our trail system.

Tom Butler: 30:16

I think it does speak to people understanding what the true value is of a trail like this, and I think I'm an example of that.

Tom Butler: 30:24

You know, I was really developing some health issues that you know, if I just let them go, they were going to be expensive and the trail is something that helps me feel comfortable, you know. And now I drive and get on a different trailhead because I skipping the bridge that's out, Um, but I'm motivated to do that, you know. And but making it easy, I think there's I'm an example of so many people that are expensive as we get older. You know who, unless you're active, unless you're taking care of yourself and the trail is really important for me as a resource to do that, it's the place I feel comfortable. The highway out there, I feel like I'm a pretty accomplished cyclist at this point, but you share the road with some logging trucks and it doesn't to me, it doesn't really matter how accomplished you are. I mean, that does not feel good. So, again, I think, understanding the value of how trails contribute in ways that people maybe don't think about, I think that is important.

Shayla Miles: 31:30

Absolutely.

Tom Butler: 31:31

You talked about cultivating relationships, and I think that's such an important word because it's, you know, it's the thing that you must do all the time. You know, I'm imagining that you're continually cultivating relationships and then it's times like these with the you know, the bridge closure and some pressure, that that cultivation is really important to have.

Shayla Miles: 31:54

Yes, absolutely, and I think it goes both ways too. I mean, I know that there are a lot of people who are really angry at the county for, you know, taking a long time on this and maybe you know the argument could be made that you know, communication wasn't right away. But you know, I also see that, because I have a relationship with Pierce County Parks, I see the work that has been done and sort of the thoughtfulness and the carefulness and the risk management and really truly understanding, you know, the different aspects of what was wrong with the bridge, why, you know, why does it need to be closed? Why does it need to be closed and not just open to a minimal amount of traffic? I mean, I have been privy to be part of those conversations with the park staff and I, as a result, really trust our partners and the work that they are doing and I know that they are doing their best to, you know, get this situation addressed and fixed. And unfortunately it's just sometimes it's just beyond the scope of one department, right, we're talking about interplay between Pierce County Parks and Public Works and as well as the council and just how.

Shayla Miles: 33:17

And then the communications marketing team, because you know that is another, you know, part of the county. So I just really want to be really clear that I have every faith and trust in our partners at the county because of those, those relationships, right. And then, yes, on the flip side, the coalition is fortunate to have a good, really good relationship with with the community members. We are represented by a board who live in those communities, who who ride and who walk on the foothills trail. Frequently, as much as I can, I am out in those communities meeting with people, meeting with our membership, and so I'm hopeful that those strong partnerships that I can convey a sense of. You know, hey, I know this is super frustrating. It's not an ideal situation. We are doing everything we can to expedite and I also believe that Pierce County Parks is doing everything they can as well.

Tom Butler: 34:22

At the board meeting there was another issue that was related to the bridge closer in this case, but I think it could be related to other things that I hadn't really even thought about, and that was somebody was talking about how trail users have been behaving poorly with landowners around the trail and maybe because of their frustration with the bridge closure or whatever. But that's really just disappointing to hear and for me it's like I hope none of them are cyclists, but I'm sure some of them are cyclists behaving badly, because it just reflects poorly on, you know, anybody riding a bike If somebody is being a jerk to a, to a private landowner near the trail. Can you give your perspective on that? And is there, do you think there's anything that the coalition can do with that, or kind of your hands are tied just by different people making bad choices.

Shayla Miles: 35:20

Unfortunately, we can never fully control what others do. Of course You're referring to the reports. I think that folks trail users in the effort to get around the closure, have been accessing private property and specifically out there. This is an area where private property is often labeled and there are very clear signs of, you know, do not trespass, do not access. And so we've just seen those, you know those requests, those signs ignored to the detriment of these private landowners.

Shayla Miles: 35:56

And, yes, I want to absolutely be clear that it may not be obvious, but the landowners around trails are really crucial, having good relationships with those landowners, because anytime there's a trail issue, or, you know, if there's trail expansion projects or there's a trail closure, we rely on those relationships with landowners to grant access if we need to access the trail to have it repaired or, you know, an easement again if there's like a project going on or construction projects.

Shayla Miles: 36:29

So, yes, we rely on those good relationships, both the county, as I mentioned, and the coalition, because we put on races throughout the year and those private landowners often have places that we drive through to park for our races or what have you. So those good relationships are really crucial to being able to just maintain a healthy trail system. The good news is is, as soon as the coalition sort of heard from the county that that was happening, we put out you know some, some Facebook posts and emails just messaging asking folks to, hey, not trespass, and we've heard that there's been a significant decrease in that sort of behavior. So I'm really grateful. So I imagine it's been you know folks like you who use the trail or you know other folks who have read our messaging and you know maybe have been out there seeing the bad behavior and saying, hey, don't, and here's why. So I'm just really grateful. Our trail community, I think, looks after, takes after each other, watches out for each other and watches out for the trail.

Tom Butler: 37:34

Celebrate Trails Day happened recently. I'm wondering if you could talk about any events that you guys had going on.

Shayla Miles: 37:38

Yes, yes. So Celebrate Trails Day. Just for folks who don't know, it takes place annually, I believe, the fourth Saturday in April and it's a nationwide trail celebration organized by the Rails to Trails Conservancy so sort of. Our national counterpart, and the coalition was really excited to host one of our volunteer stewardship work parties on Celebrate Trails Day. We were at the South Prairie Trailhead and near the South Prairie Creek and at this work party we celebrated trails by removing a ton of blackberries and other invasive plants. Typically this time of year you've probably seen it If you've been on the trail or other County trails we get vegetation that starts like encroaching on the trail and threatens to take over, and also you have other vegetation that sort of starts to grow up and out and then sort of present prevents those like really clear sight lines that are important, especially for cyclists and especially on a trail with like when you get like the turns and the curves.

Shayla Miles: 38:37

And so we really feel like these work parties are really important and crucial. They're part of our partnership with Pierce County Parks and so we tackle all the deferred and routine maintenance issues that the county can't quite get to removing that vegetation and improving wildlife habitat. In this case, as I mentioned, we were at the South Prairie Creek, which is one of the most important salmon spawning areas in the county, and so helping to improve the habitat there, I think is really, really important, and we'll also be out in the. I want to mention we'll be out in the fall planting trees. So Celebrate Trails Day happened in April, but we are doing this work all spring, summer and fall long.

Tom Butler: 39:24

Well, I have to find a way to get more involved with that. Saturdays don't work for me so I've got to figure out other days. But that's a fun challenge to have is figuring out how to get more involved in helping to beautify the trail or maintaining the trail in some ways. Can you talk a little bit more about maintenance? As far as the actual surface, it's not like a road in the middle of a city. It goes through, it is a you know. It's not like a road in the middle of a city. I mean it is, it goes through, it's beautiful. But I think part of that beauty and part of, you know, being a, like you said, a park to me, I see challenges as far as roots and things and freezing and thawing and all those things. How does that process of maintaining the surface happen, dr Justin Marchegiani?

Shayla Miles: 40:13

Yeah, well, I should first just say that you know the county maintains the trail. We support, through that capacity of you know, our trail maintenance work parties. But, honestly, you know the county staff. They're out there, you know that work plan is usually identified ahead of time and they're not. You know they're not using the trail for recreation, they're out there working, they're doing their jobs. So they're not maybe aware of some of those issues. So I would think I would say, first off, if you see those issues, you can report them. So Pierce County does have a web reporting portal that you can use and you can send a message, you can share a photo and sort of, you know, communicate those issues. Similarly, you can always do that, you know, facebook message or email the Foothills Coalition to identify those. So, like I would say, identification is like one of the main barriers because, again, folks in the park department are mostly at their desk working on their computer or they're out in a field taking, you know, tackling projects that have been sent months in advance. So helping to identify those is really important.

Shayla Miles: 41:25

The second thing is funding. So you know our Pierce County, again, the parks department, is really a lean team and they do so much with this, the small amount of staff resources that they have. But yeah, I would say citizen advocacy for trail maintenance is is really important. You could show up to council meetings and advocate for that, especially during budget cycle meetings, which are usually in the fall. I would also just say that you know the partnerships go in play a huge role in that.

Shayla Miles: 42:01

So the coalition has had the opportunity to partner this year with the parks department on tackling some of these like tertiary issues that are important right, safety, sight lines, crime prevention by environmental design. But some of the work that we're doing is not necessarily on the surface of the trail, it's around the trail and so as we build that partnership, we hope over time we can help sort of you know, help fill those gaps. So whether that's helping to, you know, provide some funding for additional trail maintenance or helping the capacity of the grant writing team at the county, so us writing a grant on behalf of Pierce County to get more maintenance dollars, those are all different ways that the coalition can be sort of nimble in our partnership and help support some of that work, because the pavement work takes obviously that's like specialized workers, specialized crew, specialized materials that just require more thought, more funding, more intention around them.

Tom Butler: 43:03

So talked about having the Foothills Trail Coalition, growing the organization and, kind of a professional way, making sure that you have staff there. That requires funds and then, you know, helping out in a lot of ways. What are the ways that you guys, what are your strategies for raising funds for the coalition?

Shayla Miles: 43:23

You know, now that we have professionalized with staff and written that five-year strategic plan, one of our big goals is to create a sustainable organization which does include having a diversified, multifaceted fundraising revenue approach to things. So one of our biggest revenue generators I will mention is our race program, specifically the Rainier to Ruston relay race, which happens on Saturday, june 1st, which is National Trails Day. It's coming right up and this brings nearly 2,000 people out to run on the sort of the envision the 50 mile route of the foothills trail and that provides a decent amount. A substantial amount of our overall operating revenue was originally started by a volunteer, john Selby, who he's Sasquatch. He will literally dress up as Sasquatch on the day of the race. But he started the race out as just a fun thing for friends and family to do and it's grown really into. One of the biggest revenue generators of our organization was, in fact, how they could hire me, the staff member that came on at the end of 2022 to sort of further grow our revenue streams. I also should mention that we do rely on membership for support, so we have a robust membership program that starts at $20 a year but goes all the way up to $500,000. There's a $500 and a $1,000 level. Our Trailblazer Society if you really want to be really impactful, and there's some benefits to membership as well. People that are members get our great quarterly newsletter and our Trailblazer Society gets a little bit more of the insider info and just kind of some special things for being such a sustaining supporter of the organization.

Shayla Miles: 45:21

My background is in fundraising for nonprofits, and so I've also instituted a major giving program as well as a planned giving program for those who want to truly leave a lasting legacy.

Shayla Miles: 45:32

It's only a small portion of our nation's wealth is actually in liquid assets.

Shayla Miles: 45:37

The rest of it is in land and real estate and retirement funds, and so folks who are able to, you know, have the benefit of having land or property or, you know, real estate or, excuse me, retirement funds that are, you know, maybe more than they need or more than they plan to leave to their kids they can name the coalition as a, as a benefactor in in their will or, you know, donate through their retirement program or donor advised funds, so that those are really incredible, meaningful ways.

Shayla Miles: 46:11

We just recently sold off the final piece of land that we had gotten from a donation, and that alone was just really I mean transformational in terms of the type of funding that it's able to provide for us and enabled us to, you know, invest our resources a little bit more wisely and have, you know, sort of endowment programs or other things that yield interest that further support our mission, or other things that yield interest that further support our mission. So that's a really important way. That program that we are implementing now takes time, but I'm very excited about that. And then we do have a number of grants that we go for, both government grants and, you know, really just trying to form relationships with our local foundations who are aligned with supporting our mission and vision. We've gotten support from the Forest Foundation as well as the Ben B Chaney Foundation, so have been really fortunate to have some relationships built with local foundations that are really, you know, interested in helping to improve people's lives here in Pierce County and understand that trails are one of the ways to do it.

Tom Butler: 47:19

Fantastic. Okay, what I need to commit to right now is that I need to become a Trailblazer Society member. I think you know, I believe that I'm on the trail enough, I love the trail and everything, and I don't know what I signed up for when I became a member. And I have to admit full disclosure, I just recently became a member. Shame on me. But you know, I think I need to up it to that $500 trail society membership level for sure.

Tom Butler: 47:48

So I really appreciate that I I'll commit to do that, and if anybody else is on the foothills trail, I'm encouraging to do the same thing, because it is as you're hearing. You know there's so many things about it that are worthwhile.

Shayla Miles: 48:02

Yeah Well, and one thing you might be interested too is we do have a business membership program that begins at $200 a year. I don't want to stop you from doing trail you definitely should but I want business owners out there to know that you can support the coalition and the trail and you get an ad in our newsletter which goes out to over 800 households. So that's just a nice way to also just get some ROI on your investment.

Tom Butler: 48:26

Awesome, that's awesome. I want to talk more about Rainier to Rustin because I think it's such a cool event. I am not much of a runner but you know, maybe if I got the understanding is that there's, you know it's a relay and I think you mentioned it's 50 miles. Is that right?

Shayla Miles: 48:44

Yeah, it's about, I think, 50 or 52 miles and, yeah, you don't have to be much of a runner, you just have to be able to do, you know, whatever leg, whatever portion, and you can have a team of up to six people. So some people do it solo, they run the whole thing themselves, which is amazing and crazy. But you know others, it's just a really fun way that they can sort of get together with a team. And, yeah, you're experiencing basically the the full vision of the 50 plus mile trail. So you start at the Mount Rainier, at the Carbon River entrance of Mount Rainier National Park. Start bright and early Gosh, I'm up there by like 5 am. I think that the first wave starts at 6.30 am and then, yeah, there's 12 different legs so you can run as many or as little as you, you know, work out with your team. It's just a great way to experience the all the different like aspects and beauty of the Envision trail system.

Tom Butler: 49:48

And it ends in Ruston, which a lot of people listening won't know what Ruston is. Can you describe a little bit about Ruston and then what will you have kind of set up? What will finish line be like?

Shayla Miles: 50:01

Yeah, so the Rainier to Rustin Rustin is basically the waterfront trail that runs along the waterfront, the Puget Sound in Tacoma, so sort of, from where you enter near Port of Tacoma and Foss Waterway Seaport and there's a new great new park called Melanie's Park down there and just runs the waterfront. But Reston just refers to the Tacoma waterfront and it's just a fun catchy name. There is a big party at the finish line. It's super fun at the finish line. It's super fun. It's going for about eight hours, from about like noon to eight, because since there's different start times and teams all take a different amount of time and there's different numbers of runners, we just have a big party.

Shayla Miles: 50:47

There'll be a DJ, we have a beer garden, we're giving out food. It's just a great sort of shared experience where you can celebrate, like this amazing achievement, and people bring their friends and relatives and there's lots of. You get lots of swag, lots of. It's like one of the best races I hear for like medals and swag, and you know they've got a massage set up at the finish line. I mean it's just, it's a really fun time.

Tom Butler: 51:15

I just think you know, grabbing a group of six people and going out and doing something fun, you know, if you break it up six ways, then it's manageable. Doing it solo it's not manageable in my opinion.

Shayla Miles: 51:30

But you know, breaking up among six people, you know, I see that as manageable and it just seems like there's not many things that would be as picturesque and as fun and as Rainier to Rustin-ness in the Puget Sound region for sure. And it attracts people from other states, other other, you know people who are interested in running and races will come and fly to this event. So we actually just heard that we got a grant from the Port of Seattle for the 2025 Rainier to Ruston because they were so excited about the potential for driving tourism. And again it goes back to that economic development argument that you know.

Shayla Miles: 52:20

Not only is this race a crucial way that we support our work of the Foothills Coalition, it's also a huge tourism driver as we think about ways to just attract people and to support the many small businesses, not only at the finish line in Ruston and Tacoma, but also just the small businesses along the way. There's this great coffee shop in Wilkeson that I stopped at last year when I was doing sort of my part, called Nomad, and I just love it so much and I know they get a lot of business from the R to R. So I just want I want everyone to um who can to participate and just pay attention to where you're driving and just see the just the truly the specialness of the of the region, of the different businesses along the trail, as well as the beauty of the trail itself.

Tom Butler: 53:11

Well, wilkeson is a very small town. No, I don't think there's even a stoplight in Wilkeson I'm sure there's not and so it's really a quaint place to start, but also it's really fun things there in Wilkes-Barre. If anybody's interested, just go to rainiertorustincom and you can find you can register and it is coming up. So you don't want to delay, you want to get on it. It is coming up. So you don't want to delay, you want to get on it.

Shayla Miles: 53:37

Yeah, and if you don't want to run it, but you want to volunteer for a couple hours and get a credit for a certain amount of money off of your next year's registration, you can also sign up to volunteer. Awesome.

Tom Butler: 53:58

What final advice would you have for someone that was really passionate about advocating for trails, really understands the value of trails and the value of active recreation in their community? What recommendations would you have for that person? Like acting on that passion.

Shayla Miles: 54:06

Yeah, and I would say I'm still learning and I think it's really place-based. So I think the first place for people to start and this is going to sound really technical and wonky but like get sort of familiar and acquainted with the plans in your region and area. Like, is there a regional trails plan? Is there a master plan for the trail in your community? If not, you know, that could be a starting place. Wow, like what's, what's, what is missing? What you know? Who's working on it? So that would be.

Shayla Miles: 54:38

The next thing is are there any local organizations that are looking to work on trail issues? And it sort of it doesn't have to be a trail coalition. There are lots of like safe routes to school organizations popping up all over the nation. There are lots of walking groups. One of our board members is part of the Volksmarch group and a lot of the times those volunteers are really plugged into sort of the advocacy opportunities.

Shayla Miles: 55:06

So I would say, like, get a little bit familiar with what your city, county, regional trails plan is, if there is one, and then also find out who the players are like, who are the nonprofits and the other community groups that are advocating for those issues, and ask them what they need. If there's an opportunity to volunteer, volunteer If you have the capacity to give, to donate, do that. So it really just depends on sort of what, how involved you want to get. Do you want to give your time, your resources, both? I think those are some of the easiest ways to start, though they're not easy, of course. And then, yeah, I would say that you know going attending council meetings, again at the city or county level, being an advocate for ensuring that recreation departments, whoever is managing your city or local trails, that they are getting the resources that they need. You could also just call your local parks department, or again, whoever is managing your trail system and ask them what they need, because they probably know the ins and outs better than most about what are the challenges.

Shayla Miles: 56:19

I've been so surprised to learn that just every county, every jurisdiction looks really, really different, and we have some cases in Washington State, like the Olympic Discovery Trail, gosh. They're making such incredible strides over there. But they have a lot of political will. They have multiple cities like 13 different cities and jurisdictions that have come together to write this big federal grant, and just citizens that are really committed to advocating to their politicians, and I think that's like a gold standard model. You know, we're not quite there yet in Pierce County but we are working so hard to build that movement and to be able to, you know, really help add capacity to the county, to our county's you know ability to expand our trail network.

Tom Butler: 57:06

Shayla, this was fantastic. You know I was looking forward to having this conversation and you know, like I said in the beginning, I see like the work of the coalition is out in front of me as I'm writing all the time, and I appreciate, I know it's a busy time and I just really appreciate you taking the time to to answer some of these questions. I still have a lot more but, but I won't overload you too much here and thank you so much for for joining me.

Shayla Miles: 57:33

Thank you so much.

Tom Butler: 57:35

I'll talk to you later. I'm happy to report that I did, in fact, get online immediately after our conversation to up my membership level to the Foothills Trail Coalition and hopefully I will get connected soon to people who can help me do some work on the trail. I think it is important for me to have that kind of ownership over a resource that I use so much as a reminder. Check out the Cycling Over 60 Strava Club. Become a member of the club and join us in the challenge to see how many miles we can put in as a group next week to acknowledge National Senior Health and Fitness Day next Wednesday. No matter how many miles we do, I believe that just the fact we are getting out there and working to be fit and healthy means that we are already ahead of the game. So plan some fun adventures for next week and remember age is just a gear change. Thank you.