How These Old Parking Meters Are Helping Revitalize Colorado Running Trails – runnersworld.com
How These Old Parking Meters Are Helping Revitalize Colorado Running Trails runnersworld.com
In the Yampa Valley trail system in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, parking meters collect donations to help preserve and protect the trails.
- Refurbished parking meters installed within the Yampa Valley Trails in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, give trail runners and hikers a unique way to donate money in order to help maintain the trail systems.
- The project was initiated by the the Yampa Valley Community Foundation, which hopes to raise between $1 and 1.5 million by 2026 to preserve the nature pathways.
When it comes to city living, parking meters are a mundane, abundant—and often unwelcome—sight, but in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, they are making their way into the wilderness.
Since trail runners are much more common than cars along the Yampa Valley Trails, the parking meters are not meant to reserve a spot on the pavement, but rather to collect donations to help preserve and protect the trails and their surrounding habitats.
Julie Hagenbuch, a member of the Trail Fund Ambassador team responsible for installing the donation stations around Steamboat Springs, got the idea for using parking meters to fundraise when she was on a trip in Los Angeles, where she saw parking meters being used to collect money for the homeless community. Once back in Colorado, she spearheaded an initiative to install 10 meters in close-to-town locations around Emerald Mountain and Howelsen Hill, the Yampa River Core Trail, and the Spring Creek trailhead in Steamboat Springs.
The refurbished meters are set in high traffic areas on the trails, so as many runners, mountain bikers, and hikers as possible can pass by them. The machines only collect credit card donations—with a minimum of $5—which will be allocated to the Yampa Valley Community Foundation (YVCF), according to Helen Beall, who works as the community impact manager for the foundation.
The parking meter project—part of the Trail Maintenance Endowment Fund, which began in 2017 and is predicted to continue until 2026—has a goal of raising between $1 to 1.5 million to go towards trail maintenance. As of July, the stations alone have collected about $750, while in total (including checks and online donations), the YVCF has raised $20,000 to preserve the trails.
The foundation’s fundraising goal is based upon an estimation for how much money is required annually to keep the trail clean and usable. Beall said that properly maintaining the non-motorized trail and trailheads around Steamboat Springs costs about $45,000 to $67,500, which is a large sum to ask for from the government each year.
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“The future of funding from federal, state, and local sources and volunteer support is unpredictable. However, funding from the Trail Maintenance Endowment Fund is consistent, predictable, and planned,” she said. “The steady funding source [from the donation stations] will allow for land managers to better implement maintenance plans for their respective trails systems and lead to an increased trail quality.”
So if you run across a parking meter in the middle of the Colorado wilderness, give it a double take—and a donation. Your five dollars, or just a few cents, will be paid forward to keep the trails clean and safe.