BY KAREN BOSSICK

When the Trump administration laid off Forest Service workers, the nonprofit Wood River Trails Coalition sprang into action.

The organization hired five trail crew workers and helped fund a sixth with the help of a private family foundation, Rebecca Rusch’s Be Good Foundation and other donors. And through July the crew maintained 170 miles of trail throughout the Wood River Valley, clearing 430 trees, cleaning 777 drains and performing 36,259 feet of tread work and 88,475 feet of brush work.

Now, the Wood River Trails Coalition is partnering with Sturtevants and Transition Bikes to raffle off a Transition Smuggler GX bike to raise more money to maintain the trails. Raffle tickets are $10 and are available until midnight Sept. 30 at https://woodrivertrailscoalition.org/bike-raffle.

The Smuggler is hailed as the go-to bike for any trail—versatile and surefooted.

The stats are not in for the work that the Hybrid Trail Crew, which is managed by the Ketchum Ranger District, did in August, said Liz Pedersen of the Wood River Trails Coalition. But the crew has been busy. And, together with volunteer trail bikers and other volunteers, the trails around Ketchum, Sun Valley and Hailey have remained easy to walk and bike.

No need to leapfrog over downed logs.

The Hybrid Trail Crew also did 500 feet of reroute and some rock work in the Castle area out Warm Springs to get around a beaver dam and a persistent wet spot.

"Our crew of five scrappy folks have been working with the Ketchum Ranger District and the BLM since May, maintaining and improving 200 miles of trails through snow, rain, hail… and now a hearty dose of sunshine,” said Jesse Lutz, WRTC Trail Crew supervisor. “One thing that’s been consistent is the support from the folks we’ve met out there – it's always been with thanks and compliments."