PLEASE:  Help MTTA Secure State Funding

Your E-mails/Calls Can Make the Difference!

It's been 17 years since MTTA received funding from the state legislature.  We've grown into a large and vibrant organization that serves over 7000 trail users per year.  With this increased usage and with this year's record snow, it is abundantly clear that our snow equipment requires further upgrading.  A request has been submitted to the State Capital Budget Committee to fund this upgrade.  We desperately need you to:

• Understand our request.  Our request is to purchase one additional snow-cat to support our South District, and to put larger cabs on an existing snow-cat and our requested snow-cat to support medical transport of sick or injured trail users.   Additionally, we've requested funds to purchase a plow truck to keep the roads open to the snow-parks to replace our ailing 1979 plow truck.   With the expected re-opening of the South side, next season, this equipment in desperately needed to support the trails system.   The total amount of this request is $262,000.

Why can't we use our ancient snow cat?

For starters, read the excellent Stuck Out Here (1MB PDF).  It shows the kind of equipment breakdowns that volunteer patrollers frequently have had to deal with.  The bottom-line is that our older snow cat was broken down as much as 50% of the time last year.  To provide excellently groomed trails to more and more trail users, both on weekends and on most weekdays, in both our North and South Districts, MTTA must acquire funds to purchase a second new snow cat.  Without it, one of our districts could go ungroomed as much as 50% of the time!

• Communicate your support of this request to State Representative Bill Fromhold, the chair of the Capital Budget Committee, by e-mail and by phone call.  E-mail Mr. Fromhold via http://www.leg.wa.gov/house/fromhold/ and call his office at (360) 786-7924, and request his support of this request.  (It will help to both e-mail and call Mr. Fromhold's office).   You can tell Mr Fromhold that this this money is to be given to the Department of Natural Resources to have them purchase the equipment, and that this request is supported by the Commissioner of Public Lands (DNR) (read the letter from Doug Sutherland (2MB PDF)).
• Contact your own State Senators and Representatives and request they support this request. You can call the Legislative Hot Line at 1-800-562-6000 and leave a voice message for your Senators and Representatives.  It will help to know what legislative district you are in.   To find your district (you may be asked for this!) and for contact information (e-mail addresses and direct phone numbers), go to the legislative web site at http://www.leg.wa.gov.   Your voice will help so much and it only takes a few minutes of your time.
• Contact Senator Marilyn Rasmussen and Representative Tom Campbell and thank them for their support on this matter. This is very important!   Direct e-mails may be sent to rasmussen.marilyn@leg.wa.gov and campbell.tom@leg.wa.gov.  Direct phone numbers are 360-786-7602 for Senator Rasmussen and 360-786-7912 for Representative Campbell.  These are terrific friends to MTTA.

Thank you for your help on this very important matter.