News re Muir Valley

[weber]

See www.muirvalley.com

[ray]

$200,000.00 for two years of operating costs!

[weber]

.

[Liz_Weber]

Thank you for your interest, Ray. No the $200,000 fundraising goal does not represent “$200,000.00 for two years of operating costs”.

Quoting from our announcement: The goal is:

“raise $200,000 to cover Muir’s 2014 and 2015 operating/maintenance expenses, to fund expenses associated with transfer of ownership, and to establish a stewardship fund for the property."

That means the $200,000 is:
A. To cover Muir’s 2014 and 2015 operating/maintenance expenses, and
B. To fund expenses associated with transfer of ownership, and the establishment of a stewardship fund, and
C. To establish a stewardship fund for the property.

Donations made in 2014, either to FOMV or to Muir Valley, count toward this goal. This includes donations made this year prior to our announcement.

[cliftongifford]

Thank you Rick and Liz for all you do! You're amazing people with amazing goals and an amazing attitude! Muir Valley is a spectacular climbing area that has become one of the best crags in the world. We very much appreciate your generosity and hard work!

[milspecmark]

Looking foward to donating this year. Thank you very much for your hard work

[clif]

i believe there are a lot of people who are grateful to the Weber's for making so many different dreams come true

[Ken84il]

No number to big! We can do it!! Looking forward to donating some of my time again this year!

[rene]

This sounds like great news.

I have one question though - what happens if FOMV doesn't reach the $200,000 goal? Where does the money go? Who would be in chare of Muir Valley then? Hopefully this is not an issue, but $200000 is a lot of money in 1 year!

[Liz_Weber]

Great question, Rene. Look for the answer to this question and to some other questions we have been asked on the Muir Valley Facebook page as we get time to answer them, probably tonight. For this afternoon, we have an overflowing parking lot of visitors to Muir and a great group of volunteers from Warren Wilson College with whom we are working. I'll get to the questions as soon as I can.

And, in the meantime thank you to each of you for all of the positive, encouraging comments, both here and in PMs, as well as on our Facebook pages.

Liz

[ray]

The operating costs are too high to sustain. Couldn't $200K be put to use better elsewhere where the ongoing maintenance isn't so costly? Can FOMV rip out all of the costly stuff to make it like the PMRP or Miller Fork?

[mjkusn01]

The operating costs are too high to sustain. Couldn't $200K be put to use better elsewhere where the ongoing maintenance isn't so costly? Can FOMV rip out all of the costly stuff to make it like the PMRP or Miller Fork?

Make MV like Miller Ford...? Not sure that's possible as everyone already knows how to get to MV and there are roads leading there.

I like your idea of ripping everything out, though. Let's spend that $200k on private contractors to come in and bulldoze the bathrooms, tear down the equipment sheds, and smash in the medical units. Then, we can remove Rick and Liz's house, brick by brick. Did I miss anything?

[Andrew]

The operating costs are too high to sustain. Couldn't $200K be put to use better elsewhere where the ongoing maintenance isn't so costly? Can FOMV rip out all of the costly stuff to make it like the PMRP or Miller Fork?

I hate to be pessimistic, but I too have my concerns. It seems to me that the ongoing maintenance is not sustainable. I do realize that if everyone donated 10 dollars a visit (a bargain compared to a day at the gym) that covering costs wouldn't be an issue, but we all know that donations are incredibly low. The reality is that Muir Valley is in competition with all of the other climbing areas in the RRG. Over time I see donation fatigue increasing and more people not willing to donate when 50 other crags don't have a daily suggested donation, nor the high continual maintenance costs.

What I am really trying to say is that Muir is a wonderful resource. I would hate to see Muir disappear due to the community not supporting the continuation of high maintenance costs due to donation fatigue.

[tradotto]

It would be nice if the Access Fund or some other entity could spread donations to all the areas in the red.

Say I give $100, $25 goes to Muir, $25 goes to RRGCC, $25 goes to badbolts.com and $25 goes to fighting to get roadside open.

[clif]

is the Muir Valley Operations Manual available to the general public?