Three amazing organizations presented on the topic of how nonprofits contribute to getting trails built.
Last week I attended the Leafline Regional Trails Conference in Redmond. I see Leafline as an important partner in trail development, and the regional perspective they take is extremely valuable. Over and over again, speakers at the conference pointed out that trail users don't really care about jurisdiction. They just want a useful trail. Leafline is there to keep that broader picture in view.One of the presentations I attended was given by three great leaders in the Pacific Northwest trails community: Larry Leveen of ForeverGreen Trails, Breanna Fokes of the Foothills Rails-to-Trails Coalition and Katherine Hollis of Eastrail Partners. The idea at the center of the presentation was simple: trail groups get more trails built when they act as real capacity for their government partners, not just cheerleaders.
The panelists called it the shift from Trail Advocacy 1.0 to Trail Advocacy 2.0. Version 1.0 is support letters and applause from the sidelines. Version 2.0 is money, technical skill, community connections and volunteer power. Park districts and public works departments can only do so much, and nonprofits are nimble enough to fill the gaps those agencies were never built to fill.
The roles the three organizations play are somewhat different from one another.
ForeverGreen Trails: Helping Partners Win the Grant
ForeverGreen Trails works on trail policy and funding across all of Pierce County, and they describe themselves with two animal metaphors. During the legislative session, they're the watchdog, pushing for good policy and funding for active recreation and mobility. The rest of the year, they're the sled dog, pulling member cities and towns toward big piles of grant money. Grow the pie, then help locals get a slice.
That second job matters more than most of us realize. State grants like the Washington Wildlife and Recreation Program (WWRP), run by the Recreation and Conservation Office, are fiercely competitive. In 2024, the top three trail projects were separated by about 0.11 points, and the money usually runs out around the seventh or eighth project on the list. Tiny improvements in an application decide who gets funded and who waits another two years.
So ForeverGreen does the work that tips those scales. As a 501(c)(3), they can't apply to programs like RCO or WSDOT's pedestrian and bicycle grants directly, but local governments can hire them to write their applications, with ForeverGreen organizational members getting a discounted rate. That earned income keeps them sustainable. They can also apply to foundations that cities can't, and accept tax-deductible gifts earmarked for a specific trail.
The most clever piece is the Trail Accelerator Program. ForeverGreen runs community fund drives for a project, matched by a partner (often the Foothills Coalition). The goal isn't to pay for the trail. It's to show grant reviewers overwhelming community support, which many programs now score. Collecting dozens of $50 donations is a headache for a public works director but routine for a nonprofit. So far these drives have supported grants of roughly $1 million, $1.5 million for the Pipeline Trail and $3 million, with a fourth, for the Riverwalk Trail, awaiting results. The key lesson: run the drive before the application is due, not after, so the launch event's photos, speakers and turnout become part of the story the application tells.
Foothills Coalition: The Friendly Local Presence
If ForeverGreen is the watchdog and the sled dog, the folks at the Foothills Rails-to-Trails Coalition call themselves the golden retriever. After 40 years of working toward a 52-plus mile trail from Mount Rainier to Puget Sound, they hold the vision steady while staff at the cities and the county come and go. Their Rainier to Ruston Relay both funds their work and supplies the matching money for those fund drives.
Fokes walked through three of their projects, and each one showed a different kind of value:
- Wilkeson to Carbonado. In a rural area wary of government, the coalition won National Park Service technical assistance and surveyed residents alongside Pierce County Parks. Volunteers handed out surveys at Wilkeson Handcar Days and collected about 400 responses, which fed an RCO grant application. When the county lacked right of entry in Carbonado, the coalition already had it and sent volunteers to clear the trail, which helped rebuild local trust.
- White River Bridge. Pat Johnson, a coalition board member who was then Buckley's mayor, championed the bridge. The coalition supplied support letters and matching funds, and by Buckley's own account, they proved there was a real community behind the project.
- Dr. Tate Pavilion. Through their relationships, the coalition noticed that Buckley needed a trailhead and Pierce County needed parking. The county built the lot, the city owns the pavilion and the coalition ran the capital campaign, including nine sponsored interpretive panels.
Eastrail Partners: The Deal-Maker
Eastrail Partners exists because the public owners of the 42-mile Eastrail corridor, which runs from Renton to Snohomish, asked for a neutral nonprofit to unify the effort. About 18 miles are open, with roughly $400 million still needed.
Eastrail Partners has been remarkably good at bringing in private money. According to Hollis, REI and Meta each put $2 million into the Eastrail to 520 Trail connector, a project King County Parks had planned for 2029 or 2030. A county councilmember found the last $500,000 or so, and the Eastrail Partners team managed delivery like a general contractor, years ahead of plan and on budget. Amazon later committed $7.5 million to Eastrail in Bellevue. On the public side, they helped secure $29 million in the state transportation package and supported a successful $30 million federal RAISE grant.
The panelists were clear that there's no single model here. Pierce County can't count on tech-company money the way the Eastside can, which is exactly why the grant-focused, community-driven approach of ForeverGreen and the Foothills Coalition matters so much for us.
Lessons for Smaller Groups
The Q&A had good news for all-volunteer organizations:
- Get free planning help. The National Park Service's Rivers, Trails, and Conservation Assistance program offers free staff help with planning and outreach, with no match required, and informal community groups are eligible.
- Start with one win. One retired planner helping one city win one grant can prove the model, and success tends to invite more work.
- Show up. Board members can simply attend council meetings and earn a seat at the table.
- Tell user stories. A commuter who got his coworkers riding to work moves legislators more than a spreadsheet does.
- Check your city's park impact fees. Find out whether your city has them and when the rates were last updated.
- Build your board on purpose. Aim for a mix of geography, fundraising access and policy expertise.
What This Means for TWBC
Here's what stuck with me. Every one of us who rides the Foothills Trail or rolls through Point Defiance Park is already a stakeholder in this work, and most of the things that tip a grant application don't require a degree in planning. They require showing up. A few places to start:
- Give to a matched fund drive when ForeverGreen or the Foothills Coalition launches one, even if it's just $10. The number of donors counts as much as the dollars.
- Come to launch events and walk-and-talks like ForeverGreen's Trails and Tales. Turnout and photos end up in grant applications.
- Sign on to the Washington Wildlife and Recreation Coalition's call for $150 million for WWRP this biennium, and consider joining their legislative day.
- Run, volunteer at or cheer for the Rainier to Ruston Relay, which helps fund the Foothills Coalition.
The trails we love didn't appear on their own, and the next miles won't either. The difference between a project that gets funded and one that waits another cycle can be a fraction of a point. As a club full of riders who care about this stuff, we can be part of that fraction.