It has been very busy over the last few weeks as we returned from Christmas holidays and continued our participation with other motorized recreation groups to call for further engagement to address some areas of concern in the Bridal Falls Gondola project.

Our group’s open letter to media on the Bridal Falls Gondola project received a lot of media and public attention. We are looking forward to meeting with the BFG proponent in the next week to discuss potential ways we can all work together to bring clarity to the impacts of the project and offer solutions to meet all the stakeholders’ needs.

The new board committees have been getting together for the start of the year to get their terms of reference and committee objectives and budgets set for the year. There are so many creative ideas and opportunities being discussed at the committees, I am excited to see what they come up with for events, marketing/communications, programs and grants for the coming year. STAY TUNED!

Speaking of grants, it’s a GREAT time to get your clubs on track to apply for grants for any of your projects you are thinking of undertaking for 2023. The ORV Trails grant opened on January 11^th, with a new limit of $400K available for funding this year. Deadline for this grant is Noon on March 17^th, 2023. ORV Grant info can be found here

Next up is our very own ATVBC Trails & Maintenance Grant INTAKE #2 – This opened January 15^th and will close on MARCH 15^th, 2023. For more information click here

The last month of the 2022 year we worked with our new insurance provider to send out welcome packages to all the clubs, that included marketing materials for clubs to use in helping with membership sales (posters, rack cards). It also includes a copy of the new insurance handbook for clubs that outlines all your coverage and provides you all the necessary forms needed for any situation. If your club has not received your package in the mail, please let us know!

In early December, we worked with our partners in the Back Country Power Sports Coalition (BCPSC) to develop and issue an RFP for a new project we are co-funding to develop a “Trails Best Practice Guidelines.” This project’s phase 1 RFP has now been issued and the deadline for submissions is January 30^th, 2023. The BCPSC will be meeting in early February to determine the awarding of the RFP and discuss next steps on the project.

We ended our 2022 year, with a call to government to help our beloved KVR. Speaking with Club President, Kelly Reichert at the Timberline Cruisers ATV club, she expressed concern for the government’s lack of decision making on how to and if they will repair the damages done to the trail in late 2021. ATVBC joined their letter campaign, sending letters to 4 ministers calling for action and shared the call for support on our social media and website. We connected Kelly with our friends at Riderswest Magazine to do an article about our beloved trail. Special Thanks to Kelly and Kyle at Riderswest for the great article. Check it out here!

I hope you have had a good holiday and want to welcome you to 2023, I am so excited for the year ahead to work with our members, our clubs and our communities on ways that we can bring more support, awareness and resources to our beloved support.

Kristin Parsons