jeffhalligan

Why Become a Member of Idaho Trails Association?


As the snow starts to blanket the high country, we’re planning ITA’s trail projects for 2020. I have to say we had a great season in 2019. We had a record number of volunteers provide time and energy to get the work done, we had a record number of projects completed and a record number of volunteer hours in the woods! If you got out on a project or two, I want to thank you! If you did not, I hope we can entice you to join us this upcoming summer for an adventure! Our motto is “Save Idaho Trails”. To continue to do that, we need more folks to join ITA and volunteer for a project. Won’t you become a new member or renew your membership during this membership drive? The top reasons I hear volunteers say they joined:

  • Spend time in Idaho’s beautiful backcountry
  • See a “new to you” area of Idaho
  • Meet new people and make new friends 
  • Learn new trail maintenance and tool skills
  • Create great memories
  • Help Idaho’s youth get outdoors
  • Show support of our public lands and public access by improving trails

Other things to consider…


Do you have on your bucket list a trip deep into the Selway Wilderness, the Frank Church or the St. Joe? Have you always wanted to spend time in the Gospel Hump Wilderness? Have you longed to get to the Canadian border at Little Snowy Top? If you’re unfamiliar with Little Snowy Top, check out the picture below, then keep your eye out for our 2020 project list and sign up for THAT project!

Don’t have a week to donate? No problem. How about a weekend or single-day project in the Owyhees, Sawtooths, or Selkirks? Yep – these are the places ITA volunteers play AND work in!

Are you a woman that would like to spend a weekend working the trails with other women outdoor enthusiasts? Join us for one of our Women Only Weekends (WOW)! We provide a fun, safe and satisfying environment for women to get out in Mother Nature and work! This is a great opportunity to meet new friends and experience areas of Idaho that you probably haven’t seen. Keep your eye out in our upcoming Membership Drive posts for a full article on our
WOW projects!
Do you have a 14 to 18-year old that would like to have a great camping and project experience where they will meet new friends, and learn work, teamwork and decision-making skills? We have a youth program dedicated to getting kids out into the backcountry to learn these skills and to see their public lands. ITA had three youth projects in 2019. We would like to do more in 2020 and we need your help!

If you’re more interested in seeing miles of trails in Idaho’s backcountry, perhaps a Monitoring project would be the right fit for you. Each season we do several projects collecting GPS data for land managers while providing backpacking skills to our volunteers. We cover between 25 and 50 miles of trail on each trip, setting our camp up at a different site each night. And yes, we are always willing to hike a few more miles to find that perfect place to drop our tent to enjoy a view after a long day of tracking and recording trail conditions.

If camping, backpacking or swinging a Pulaski aren’t for you but you still want to help keep our trails open, we have other ways to help. In addition to your support through membership financial contributions, we need help from members to drive trail tools and tents to and from projects. We would also like to engage volunteers as camp cooks. And we often have projects where volunteers’ skills such as administrative, human resources, social media, financial and marketing would be appreciated. Let us know if you would like to help fill gaps for ITA throughout the year.

Interested in the amount of miles covered and volunteer hours contributed in 2019? We will provide that and other information in the upcoming weeks of our Membership Drive. We will also give you a sneak peek into what’s ahead for 2020. Remember, as a member, you get a chance to secure your spot on our projects before we broadcast the list to the general public.

Thank you for your work in 2019! Please join us for 2020 today!
Jeff Halligan, Executive Director

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