Ice Age Trail Alliance

CREATE, SUPPORT, AND PROTECT A THOUSAND-MILE FOOTPATH TRACING ICE AGE FORMATIONS ACROSS WISCONSIN.

OUTREACH - AS WE RECOVERED FROM THE YEARS OF COVID, THE IATA RETURNED TO AN IN-PERSON EVENT THIS YEAR IN STEVENS POINT AT THE HOLIDAY INN CONFERENCE CENTER. ATTENDANCE WAS 406. MULTIPLE WORKSHOP TRACKS WERE SCHEDULED OVER THREE DAYS. ATTENDEES PARTICIPATED IN TEN SEPARATE SEMINARS, TRAININGS, AND INFORMATION SESSIONS. ADDITIONALLY, OUR BYLAW-MANDATED BOARD MEETINGS AND ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING WERE EFFICIENTLY HELD. WE WERE THRILLED TO WELCOME JENNIFER PHARR-DAVIS AN INTERNATIONALLY RECOGNIZED RECORD-BREAKING LONG-DISTANCE HIKER AS OUR KEYNOTE SPEAKER. IATA'S YOUTH EDUCATION PROGRAM, SAUNTERS, INCLUDED 30 SCHOOL DISTRICTS ACROSS THE STATE WITH OVER 70 PROGRAM OPTIONS. A GRANT FROM THE NATIONAL PARK FOUNDATION, TO DEVELOP AND IMPLEMENT OUR THINK OUTSIDE PROGRAM, ALLOWED US TO RE-LAUNCH THIS PAST YEAR. WE WERE ABLE TO REACH 6,500 FOURTH-GRADERS! A HIGHLIGHT OF THE YEAR WAS OUR 2ND ANNUAL OCTOBER MAMMOTH HIKE CHALLENGE. THE HEAVILY PROMOTED EVENT SAW OVER 6,500 REGISTRANTS COMMITTED TO HIKING 41 MILES DURING OCTOBER AND VISITING TWO TRAIL COMMUNITIES. OVER 4,000 COMPLETED THE CHALLENGE!A MEMBERSHIP DRIVE SUPPORTED BY DULUTH TRADING COMPANY WELCOMED 417 NEW MEMBERS IN THE SAME MONTH. A RECORD FOR A SINGLE MONTH BY A LARGE MARGIN.

TRAILS - IATA HAS BUILT AND MAINTAINS ALMOST 700 MILES OF THE ICE AGE NATIONAL SCENIC TRAIL THAT ARE OPEN FOR PUBLIC USE. IATA COORDINATES THIS WORK WITH ITS 19 CHAPTERS AND VOLUNTEERS FROM THROUGHOUT WISCONSIN AND BEYOND. IN ADDITION TO DIVERSE TRAIL CONSTRUCTION, MAINTENANCE, STEWARDSHIP, AND OUTREACH AND EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES THAT OCCUR ON AN ONGOING BASIS, IATA ADDED 6+ MILES OF SUSTAINABLE TRAIL TREAD AND BROUGHT AN ADDITIONAL 25 MILES UP TO NATIONAL PARK SERVICE STANDARDS. IATA'S NINE MSC EVENTS GENERATED ALMOST 45% OF ALL VOLUNTEER HOURS REPORTED BY THE IATA. TOTAL VOLUNTEERS FOR THE YEAR WERE 1,354, CONTRIBUTING 63,284 HOURS. IATA MEMBERSHIP GREW TO 5,478 MEMBERS. TWENTY-FOUR VOLUNTEER AND STAFF PARTICIPANTS SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETED THE NPS/USFS SAWYER TRAINING FOR SAFE CHAINSAW USE.TWO ICE AGE TRAIL COMMUNITIES WERE ADDED WITH UNIQUE MOU'S FOR EACH COMMUNITY REFLECTING THE COMMITMENTS BETWEEN THE COMMUNITY AND IATA TO PROMOTE THE TRAIL AS PART OF THE "FABRIC" OF THE COMMUNITY. TRAIL COMMUNITIES NOW NUMBER 15.

LANDS - IN A RECORD-BREAKING YEAR, THE IATA PROTECTED TWELVE PROPERTIES (ONE BY THE WISCONSIN DNR) IN 2021 THAT PROTECTED 637 ACRES OF LAND THAT WILL HOST 5.5 MILES OF NEW TRAIL. PROPERTIES WERE PROTECTED IN BOTH FEE AND EASEMENT. ALL THESE LANDS WILL HOST A VARIETY OF PUBLIC RECREATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES THAT INCLUDE THE ICE AGE NATIONAL SCENIC TRAIL. WE WERE ALSO PLEASED TO REPORT PLANTING 5,500 TREES ON OUR PRESERVES.EXCITEDLY, WE ARE ABLE TO REPORT A BANNER YEAR OF ICE AGE TRAIL THOUSAND-MILERS. IN TOTAL, 83 PEOPLE FROM 7 STATES BROUGHT THEIR ADVENTURE TO COMPLETION.