Mt. Emily Recreation Area Coalition

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Here are some ideas for ways in which you can help keep the slopes of Mt. Emily open to the public.  Help raise public awareness, show your support for the proposed recreation area, consider donating time, materials or money, or just use your creativity to help us out.

Many people don't know about the plans to sell-off the Mt. Emily forest lands, even among folks that use them.  And even those who know about the sell-off may not know much about this effort to retain public access.  The more people that know, the better chance we have of achieving our goals.  Here are a few things you can do to help raise awareness of the situation.

Talk

Talk to family, friends, co-workers.. anybody.  Let them know what is going on with Mt. Emily.  Talk about what this area means to you, and what impact it's loss would have.  Let them know how they can find out more about the proposed recreation area (this website, perhaps.)

Host an information meeting

If you belong to a social, service or church group, invite a coalition organizer to visit your group and talk about the recreation area.  You can get in contact with coalition organizers on our Contact Us page.

Visit Mt. Emily

See for yourself what's at stake.  Although Forest Capital Partners has closed most of their Mt. Emily holdings to public access, the Blue Mt. Singletrack Trails Club has a lease agreement that allows recreational use on a section of the land close to town.  For driving directions to the two access points, see our Maps page.

Take it Online

Are you computer and Internet savvy?  If you blog, podcast, have a MySpace page, post videos to YouTube or are comfortable with any of the growing number of Internet community technologies, we would love to have you speak out about Mt. Emily online. If you do, let people know about this website and our email lists so they can stay connected.

Share your Mt Emily stories

Mt. Emily has been an important part of local lore for generations.  There must be hundreds of stories, from historical accounts through family legends to personal anecdotes that involve the slopes of the mountain.  If you hold one of these threads from which the fabric of local history has been woven, get it out of mothballs and let it be seen.  Remind others of the rich connections our community has with the open country nearby, especially Mt. Emily.

Knowing about the situation on Mt. Emily is important, but in order to change the direction of events, action needs to be taken.  Please take some of these steps to help

Write a letter

Or several (email counts too.)  People in influential positions need to know what you think.  A passionate and thoughtful message to public officials, community leaders, local and regional papers and even the land's current owners, lets them know that this is an important issue.  Tell them what you would like to see happen.  We've put together a list of important addresses for people we think should hear from you about this issue.  Also, check out our Action Alerts! page for a list of important letters you can write, right now!

Join our email list.

Join one or more of our email lists to keep abreast of new developments regarding Mt. Emily.  Not only will you learn the latest, you'll also be informed of other important actions you can take as they arise.

Become active in the Coalition

There are somewhere between one and two dozen people who are most active in the Mt. Emily Coalition.  We think we are accomplishing a lot, but there is plenty of work for even more to do.  If you like working with others, you can play an important role in helping save Mt. Emily.  Give us a call.

Needless to say, little of consequence gets done it our world without having some economic resources behind it.  It will take both time and money resources if we are to be successful in our effort to establish the recreation area.  In addition, if we are successful, there will be plenty time, materials and money required to develop and maintain the on-site facilities required: trails, parking, toilets, camping and picnicking areas.  Because of the huge amount of money involved (millions,) most cash will necessarily come from grants by public and private agencies.  However, individuals have an important and critical role that they can play too in donating their time and dollars.

Although the Mt. Emily recreation area is not currently a tax-exempt organization, some of our member organizations are.  We can arrange for you to receive a charitable donation tax exemption

Your time

As well as all the ideas above, which are all very welcome donations, there will (hopefully) be many opportunities once the recreation area is established to volunteer.  Picnic and camping area cleanup, trail maintenance work-parties, participating on the proposed management board, all these and more will be important ways that the public (that's us) can continue to ensure the recreation area will be successful.

Your materials

Do you have building materials, use of construction equipment, office supplies or other tangibles that you can provide?  Your donations of materials will be especially helpful when it comes time to build facilities at the new recreation area.

Your money

The coalition is busy applying for grants to fund the acquisition of the recreations area.  These grants can cover a lot of whats required, but they can't cover it all.  Matching funds are normally required as a condition of the grant, and you can help provide them.  Find out more on our Donations page.  One especially significant area that will require individual donations is our effort to retain the existing tree cover on the face of Mt. Emily.  Without additional funds, our current plan for funding acquisition requires that a majority (if not all) standing timber on the site be sold for immediate cutting and removal, so individual donations may be the only way to preserve the trees. 

Everyone has their own set of talents and skills.  Think about what you do best, what energizes and excites you.  Think of some way to use that skill and that energy to help save Mt. Emily.  There could be a million different ways to help with this effort, and perhaps you are the only one to know one of them.  Don't be shy; give it a try.  Paraphrasing Smokey, only you can prevent forest loss on Mt. Emily.