Love Boise trails? This T-shirt lets you show it, funds fixes for damaged routes
A new fundraiser lets people display their love for the Boise Foothills trails on a T-shirt that funds much-needed trail maintenance.
For Mark Woychick, who created the fundraiser, shirts were an obvious choice to address a growing problem.
Woychick, of Boise, started making shirts to celebrate Boise parks and the tree-planting City of Trees Challenge a few years ago. He was inspired by his brother Dan, a graphic designer who created Love Minneapolis Parks to donate the city’s park system. Dan also created the designs for Love Boise Parks and, most recently, the T-shirt benefiting Ridge to Rivers, which manages Boise’s trail system.
Woychik said he’s an avid trails and Greenbelt user, running, walking or hiking every day. Over the years he’s noticed the beating the trails take during inclement weather.
Boise Foothills trails are largely built on clay-heavy soil, which is prone to rutting and erosion when wet. For years, Ridge to Rivers has asked trail users to avoid the routes when they’re wet or muddy, but people continue to churn footprints and bicycle tires that harden into dangerous ruts.
“The trails are in need of some love at this point,” Ridge to Rivers executive director David Gordon told the Idaho Statesman in an email. “Many are still muddy or snow-covered, while others are slowly drying. Some in particular were hard hit this winter during muddy conditions and they will likely remain rougher than they were previously.”
Woychik said he saw an Idaho Statesman article in January about extensive trail damage. Woychik, wondering what he could do to help, reached out to Ridge to Rivers about developing the T-shirt fundraiser.
“You see (the damage) and kind of shake your head or ask, ‘How does this keep happening?’” Woychik said. “I thought we can try to do something positive with it.”
Woychik’s T-shirts launched March 24 on his website, LoveBoiseParks.org. The olive-colored shirts feature a green design encouraging people to “protect and share our open spaces.” They cost $25 but are discounted to $22.50 through the April 16 pre-sale run. Ten dollars from each shirt sale goes to the Ridge to Rivers Heritage Trust Trail Maintenance and Construction fund.
Woychik said he’ll order inventory when the pre-sale ends and stock some extra supplies based on demand. The shirts will continue to be available through his website, along with his parks shirts.
Gordon said it’s the first time Ridge to Rivers has had a T-shirt fundraiser. The donations will go toward “materials for trail projects, matching funds grant applications or specific trail contract payment.”
Woychick said he hopes the shirts remind people to stay off wet, muddy trails and use Ridge to Rivers’ Facebook and website trail condition reports.
“I don’t think anybody’s out there deliberately trashing the trails,” Woychick said. “I think it’s just a matter of awareness.”
So far, Woychick said, the response for the fundraiser has been good. He said if there’s enough demand for the shirts, he may try different color combinations, types of shirts or new designs. He also said other products, like bumper stickers, could be options in the future.
