Revelstoke Cycling Association is aiming to use money from the Columbia Shuswap Regional District’s Economic Opportunity Fund to support its trail maintenance crew and future work on the trail systems surrounding Revelstoke. City council approved the recommendation to the CSRD at a Tuesday, Oct. 14 general council meeting and RCA now waits for the district board to approve the $30,000 request.
A majority of the Economic Opportunity Fund will go towards supporting RCA’s three staff who work full-time for an average of six months per year maintaining and updating RCA’s four trail systems, much of the roughly 100 kilometres worth of trail located on CSRD land. With wages that match or are above Revelstoke’s living wage, general equipment costs and maintenance costs for the vehicles and bikes the crew uses, a notable chunk of RCA’s annual budget goes towards trail crew operations.
“It’s pretty crucial for us to get that funding to maintain a balanced budget,” Alex Cooper, RCA executive director said, adding the non-profit has been a recipient of the Economic Opportunity Fund for the last couple of years.
Between that funding history and a track record of providing economic and tourism opportunities around the region, RCA applied for a multi-year approval of the funding, but was denied. While the board was disappointed the multi-year funding was rejected, Cooper said they’ll keep working to find a steady source of funding that allows for long term planning and budgeting.
“Let’s have more stability and we can plan more for the future, that’s a key goal for us,” he said, explaining local sponsorships, fundraisers and roughly 700 annual memberships are collectively only a third of the organization’s budget some years.
While RCA hasn’t been able to conduct an economic impact study on what tourism and business opportunities stem from the biking community in Revelstoke, Cooper said the organization has used data from other communities such as Golden to estimate mountain biking’s impact on the local economy. Based on that data and current RCA membership numbers, Cooper estimates mountain biking brings Revelstoke roughly $12 million to $15 million a year.
RCA won’t know until later this year if it’s been approved for the $30,000 from the Economic Opportunity Fund, but Cooper is hopeful the CSRD board of directors will follow Revelstoke council’s lead.
“I think they recognize that having these networks is a great value and important for the health and well-being of residents here, as well as the economic benefits of tourism,” Cooper said.
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