IATC Awarded Grant from Visit Issaquah to Restart Hiking Program in 2021

Visit Issaquah recently approved funding up to $100,000 for Issaquah non-profit organizations to help sustain and/or encourage tourism or hospitality. Visit Issaquah promotes travel and visitation to Issaquah and is the official destination marketing organization for the community of Issaquah. The IATC applied, and along with several other Issaquah nonprofits, was awarded a sponsorship to fund the planning and reopening of our popular guided hiking program. 

IATC’s hiking program is central to our mission, supporting our advocacy awareness goals, while providing visitors and our local community with opportunities to experience the Issaquah Alps led by expert guides. It is our hope that we will be able to reignite and expand the program in the spring or summer of 2021. The sponsorship from Visit Issaquah will help make it possible for our organization to create an enhanced guided hiking program that will engage local volunteers and host visitors, residents and public officials on our trails year-round. In addition, we aim to create a virtual guided hiking option that will serve those who wish to explore the area on their own while learning about local plant and animal species as well as history. It is our goal for the expanded hiking program to serve as a platform for our ongoing conservation and advocacy efforts, with boots on the ground connecting people to nature and building an army of activists.

If you are interested in learning more, or joining our task force to plan the reopening of the hiking program, please contact Lindsay Frickle at exec@issaquahalps.org. To learn more about Visit Issaquah, visit www.visitissaquahwa.com.