On October 24, 2013, Mark Halwa, Chair of the Columbia Valley Greenways Trail Alliance (CVGTA), presented to a room full of local trail enthusiasts. Mark had attended the International Mountain Biking Association's (IMBA) three day World Summit in Santa Fe, NM on October 10-13, 2012 to find out how other trail users around the world are developing, funding and maintaining trails for all kinds of outdoor users. The event was sold out, with 350 delegates  present from places as far away as Singapore and Israel.

The successes and failures that were shared have a lot in common with the Columbia Valley – so Mark took notes, pictures and emailed all the speakers to ask for their presentations.  The three days of material was condensed into an hour and he presented the highlights in Golden on Thursday October 24th.

After the IMBA summary presentation, Mark outlined how the CVGTA has integrated lessons learned from other trail groups. He also made the standing offer to work with Golden's trail groups. Then a discussion about the merits, challenges and actions moving forward took place. These actions were documented and shared with the meeting participants to keep the conversation going.

The PowerPoint slides from both the Community Coordination project and the IMBA and CVGTA presentations are posted on the Trails webpage.

Mark Halwa, Chair of the Columbia River Greenways Trail Alliance, will be speaking on the International Mountain Biking Association (IMBA)'s three day World Summit in Santa Fe, NM on October 10-13, 2012. Mark and his wife, Lori, attended the conference to find out how other trail users around the world are developing, funding and maintaining trails for all kinds of outdoor users. It was sold out, 350 delegates from places as far away as Singapore and Israel attended, as well as 50 IMBA staff and another 50 or more press and industry representatives.

The successes and failures that were shared have a lot in common with the Columbia Valley - so Mark took notes, pictures and emailed all the speakers to ask for their presentations. The three days of material has now been condensed into about an hour and he would like to present the highlights in Golden on Thursday October 24th. There is no charge to attend.

If you are interested in trails and building a coalition of outdoor enthusiasts, please come along. The presentation will begin at 7:00 PM sharp, CBT Office Boardroom on 8th Ave North in Golden.