MATCHING FUND

The LEGACY KEEPERS MATCHING FUND has been created for business partners, hiking and running clubs, and individual donors. These donors are committing to pool their gifts together as a matching challenge for our spring and end-of-year campaigns. Our goal is to motivate donors to act fast to double their impact for our cause.

TKO’s organizational growth is reliant on you, our Legacy Keepers.

In the donation form, please indicate your group affiliation by choosing the appropriate field from the drop-down menu, to ensure we can track the support you are helping raise.

The service we provide at TKO to protect and enhance the Oregon hiking experience through advocacy, stewardship, outreach, and education is only possible thanks to you and others in our community. Your gift to the Legacy Keepers Matching Fund will allow TKO to build upon the momentum from the last few years. In 2022 alone your past support allowed us to: 

  • Expanded important restoration in areas in the state impacted by wildfires

  • Host 450+ trail stewardship events for more than 2,300 volunteers 

  • Maintain more than 460,000 feet of trail and interacted with 1000s of visitors

You’ll see firsthand the direct impact you can have on Oregon’s trails in the coming year. Wherever in the state you love to hike, your support will help TKO do even more for your beloved trails in 2023 and beyond.

YOU’LL JOIN A DEDICATED GROUP OF TRAIL ADVOCATES WHO PROVIDE ESSENTIAL FUNDING FOR TKO’S WORK. JOIN US AT A BUILDERS-KEEPERS EVENT, A SITE TOUR TO WITNESS OUR STEWARDSHIP IN ACTION!

Builders-Keepers Events

We’ve all been through a lot over the last few years… Together, we’re navigating so much that we’ve never seen before. Our moments in nature are seemingly critical to reset, take the long view and hike on through these challenges. Oregon’s trails are more important than ever – to more people than ever. Increased use – plus the wildfire damage to many of our treasured areas – makes Trailkeepers of Oregon’s mission more important than ever. Big, audacious challenges lay ahead for Oregon’s trails and our programming:

  • Reimagining TKO’s OregonHikers.org and what +1.5 million page views can achieve in breaking down barriers to access to enjoy Oregon’s scenic sites near and far.

  • Providing safe & welcoming outdoor spaces through an expanding trailhead and on-trail Ambassador programming. Not all people feel safe & welcome in the outdoors due to racism, bias & hate – TKO aims to be a part of changing that.

  • Solving gaps in trail systems across the state, through a steady support of trail maintenance and advocating for inspiring efforts like the Oregon Coast Trail, Salmonberry Trail, Columbia Gorge Towns-to-Trails and so much more.

  • Activating communities to respond to wind & fire events that threaten our access to public lands due to limited local, state and federal resources. 

Read on for more details: TKO’s mission, vision & values, as well as how we are making change to our programming and Oregon’s trails to be more safe & welcoming!

TKO Strategic Plan 2020-2030
TKO's DEI Impact Goals

A nonprofit since 2007, TKO  started tracking our trail service in 2017. Here is what we have achieved in 5 years.

BY THE NUMBERS:

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Trail Parties

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Thousand Volunteer Participants

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Million Feet of Trail Scouted

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Million Feet of Trail Maintained

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Thousand Hours of Service

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Volunteer Leaders

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Ambassador Stations

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Thousand Visitor Interactions

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Parks & Ranger Districts Served

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Thousand Feet of Trail Developed

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Million Dollars of In-kind Service

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TKO Staff Positions Created

Here’s a sample of what happens when we are given the capacity to expand – Oregon Coast stewardship started in 2018, taking off in 2019!

SCALABLE GROWTH

TKO REGIONAL STEWARDSHIP HUBS

In just over 5 years, TKO now has in place 10 staff people – with regional hubs in Portland, Columbia Gorge, Mt. Hood, & the northern/southern Oregon Coast. The Santiam corridor east of Salem, Eugene to Roseburg in the southern Willamette Valley and the greater Prineville to Bend region are areas we see as strategic for TKO to grow our staff team’s presence. Each investment in TKO brings the possibility of staffing lifts to regions that need our support. TKO has a scalable growth plan to expand in urban regions down the Willamette Valley and connect to rural hubs to Oregon Coast and into eastern Oregon.

TKO Staff & Board

BUSINESS TIME

TKO’s First Staff Person, 2017

After 10 years a nonprofit, TKO stepped into hiring their first staff person in 2017. A capacity grant from REI Co-op made this possible, TKO implemented a donation program in July 2017. In 2 short months, a flood of support arrived with the overwhelming challenge of restoring Gorge trails from the Eagle Creek fire.

Learn More from ED Steve Kruger

Latest News

You person with a hiking pack walks along a steep mountain trail with large white flowers along the hillside and scenic views.

ACTION ALERT: Forest Service cuts to seasonal staffing will hurt trails and recreational access

This post comes with big thanks to our friends at Washington Trails Association who invited us to borrow heavily from their similar action alert! We invite you to scan the similarities and differences between Oregon and Washington in WTA’s article with a carbon copy for Oregon that we created below. 

If you hike in Oregon, odds are excellent that you’ve enjoyed trails on U.S. Forest Service land. About 39% of Oregon (yes, that’s over 14 million acres of the state) is managed by the U.S. Forest Service. National forests contain some of the most iconic landscapes, popular campgrounds and beloved hiking trails in the state. Encircle Mt. Hood on the Timberline trail, hike along a National Scenic Trail like the Deschutes River trail, visit the Oregon Dunes along the coast, or backpack in the Eagle Cap Wilderness and you are enjoying some of the over 15,000 miles of national forest trails in Oregon.

You person with a hiking pack walks along a steep mountain trail with large white flowers along the hillside and scenic views.

Millions of visitors spread out in Oregon’s 14 million acres of Forest Service lands and 15,000 miles of trails. Photo by TKO volunteer leader Neil Cadsawan

A funding crisis is putting Forest Service trails, campgrounds and other types of outdoor recreation at risk. The U.S. Forest Service is currently making major cuts to its workforce that will reduce its ability to maintain trails, clean trailhead restrooms, collect trash and provide essential services. 

BUDGET CRISIS WILL CUT JOBS AND REDUCE SERVICES

[…]

@ by Steve Kruger

Wildfire Resilience, Shellburg Falls Reopens in the Santiam State Forest

Among the many communities, natural landscapes, and hiking trails that were set ablaze in the historic 2020 Labor Day Wildfires, the Beachie Creek fire swept across Shellburg Falls Recreation Area in the Santiam State Forest southeast of Salem. Once the smoke cleared, TKO was called upon to help! […]

@ by Steve Kruger
A large group of TKO Trail Ambassadors stand in front of a waterfall. The image is overlaid by the TKO logo.

2024 Trail Ambassadors Foster a Welcoming and Accessible Outdoors

Trails have amazing potential to bring people of all backgrounds and abilities into the outdoors, yet gaps in information prevent many from doing so. That’s where TKO Trail Ambassadors come in! These volunteers help to create a welcoming environment on Oregon’s trails by offering a friendly presence to answer questions, providing maps and other information, and recommending local businesses and attractions. Looking back on the 2024 season, it’s easy to see the positive impact their passion and dedication had on Oregon’s trails and trail users.

[…]

@ by Steve Kruger
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