Are there membership dues?
No, but an annual dues donationof $6 per hiker is suggested.
What do the dues pay for?
You might not know this, but your Organizer pays Meetup.com a monthly fee in order to run her Meetup Groups ($144/year). She splits this fee among her group, and the money comes right out of her own pocket. In addition, your organizer pays subscription fees for trail websites (for both condition updates and listings), and also purchases hiking books and meetup supplies. $1 of each person's dues is also donated to the Washington Trails Association. The WTA does a LOT of work building and maintaining many of the trails we have or will be hiking on. You can find out more about the WTA and my decision to donate below.
Do I have to pay the dues?
Of course not! That's why we call them "suggested" dues. Although I identify those who contribute as regular members, membership dues are optional. Failure to pay dues does not compromise any person's welcome or full participation in our group in any way whatsoever. It simply means that those who contribute want to help pay for the costs of maintaining and promoting PNW Leisure Hiking. It further means that they believe the benefits they receive from their participation are worth a minimum of $6 per year.
 I think I'd like to check out PNW Leisure Hiking before pitching in any dues, is this ok?
Absolutely!
Should I pay the suggested dues for my dog(s)/kid(s)/partner(s)/spouse/guest(s)?
We ask that if you have regularly participating adults with you, that you pitch in $6 annually for them, but again because these are suggested dues and not required dues, that is not a requirement.
How can I find out how much money PNW Leisure Hiking has paid out and/or brought in?
On our Meetup.com website, there is a tab in the left-hand column titled "Money." Any member of PNW Leisure Hiking can review all of our funds, both income and outgoing, via the Money section.
Why are you asking us to pay these suggested dues?
As your organizer, I spend a lot of time and energy organizing the hikes, so I hope you won't think it unreasonable that I'm asking members to help cover the costs.
I can't afford to pay the suggested dues, but I still want to help out. Is that ok?
I am never one to turn away help! I may have you research hikes, make phone calls to ranger stations for information, or something else creative.
NO compensation is given to Organizers, Assistant Organizers, etc. All work and time is voluntary.
Washington Trails Association
Washington Trails Association (WTA) is the voice for hikers in Washington. WTA believes that hiking trails are our link to the wilderness. WTA protects hiking trails and wild lands, takes volunteers out to maintain trails, and promotes hiking as a healthy, fun way to explore the outdoors.
WTA's volunteer trail maintenance program is among the largest in the nation, with more than 80,000 volunteer hours statewide each year, and over 2000 volunteers giving back to the trails they love- and getting a good dose of personal reward in return.
 Washington Trails Association protects trails through lobbying and grassroots advocacy on issues that impact hikers, like trail funding and wilderness protection. They work closely with federal and state policymakers to advance hiker's interests in forest planning and new recreation projects.
Washington Trails Association plays a unique role in Washington’s environmental community, bringing enthusiasts for recreation and conservation together to protect the awesome wild places we love to explore, and to protect the opportunities for people to enjoy them.
My decision to donate $1 of each member’s donations to PNW Leisure Hiking was not made lightly. However, of all of the resources I have used while planning and coordinating hikes for our group, WTA has been by far the most useful. With Thousands of Trip Reports detailing current conditions, and WTA's Hiking Guide which allows users to write descriptions with all the basic statistics for more than 2,000 hikes in Washington, I have been successful in planning many great hikes already this year. In addition, WTA offers Trail & Road Damage Database to make sure our trails are open.
You can find out more about WTA at www.WTA.org. Consider an annual membership; I’ve loved the valuable information I’ve gotten from mine already. In addition, WTA has offered to sign each of our members up for their monthly e-newsletter “Trail News.”
Click here to go to our Meetup.com Website!
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