**"It’s time to move to an integrated funding model for outdoor recreation in British Columbia"**
Yes! Paid staff needs to be the ones doing the paperwork - frankly that's the only way it'll scale past 1 or 2 volunteers building legit trails. Don't underestimate how demotivating it is to slog through applications for volunteers. It's just not realistic beyond a few exceptionally talented and motivated folks. Find a way to go get trail funding so you can do this for them.
Staff should also manage each volunteer on the ground and be the ones to interface with government. Relationships matter, and these government interactions get better with trust and history. It's weird how huge trail opportunities happen - they often start organically and come from conversations with land managers in a hallway after a meeting.
Where to start? A donor-supplied action fund of a few thousand dollars a year will pay massive dividends. Call it lobbying if you wish. Partner with hiking groups on funding requests at the province level. Not sure how the laws work up there, but you need your person in the mix year after year. The trail dollars will follow. From these comments it sounds like the money from the province is there, it's just not going where it's needed.
A key to this is that you don't just ask for your own money, you ask for additional funding for your land managers to manage you. It's a beautiful thing when they know you're going to bat for them.
June 13, 2018, 9:53 a.m. - JVP
**"It’s time to move to an integrated funding model for outdoor recreation in British Columbia"** Yes! Paid staff needs to be the ones doing the paperwork - frankly that's the only way it'll scale past 1 or 2 volunteers building legit trails. Don't underestimate how demotivating it is to slog through applications for volunteers. It's just not realistic beyond a few exceptionally talented and motivated folks. Find a way to go get trail funding so you can do this for them. Staff should also manage each volunteer on the ground and be the ones to interface with government. Relationships matter, and these government interactions get better with trust and history. It's weird how huge trail opportunities happen - they often start organically and come from conversations with land managers in a hallway after a meeting. Where to start? A donor-supplied action fund of a few thousand dollars a year will pay massive dividends. Call it lobbying if you wish. Partner with hiking groups on funding requests at the province level. Not sure how the laws work up there, but you need your person in the mix year after year. The trail dollars will follow. From these comments it sounds like the money from the province is there, it's just not going where it's needed. A key to this is that you don't just ask for your own money, you ask for additional funding for your land managers to manage you. It's a beautiful thing when they know you're going to bat for them.