Jeff Statt took the lead in setting up an exploratory meeting, and invited interested non-profits and public agencies from around Oregon and Southwest Washington to gauge whether a new non-profit was needed. Jeff also polled several non-profits in Oregon who had some sort of stewardship program with the same question, and there was strong support for the idea. Many were frustrated with their own stewardship programs and were eager for a non-profit organization with a core stewardship mission to partner with. The formation meeting happened in October 2017, and the TKO board has met regularly ever since, initially as the Trails Association of Oregon (TAO), but switching to our current name in the spring of 2008 after some concern about how the “TAO” acronym would be received.