Dear Fellow Winter Adventurer,
The winter is off to a stellar start, with over 200 inches of snowfall in parts of the Cascades. But all is not right in the mountains. Each year, you and I depend upon the tireless work of the weather and avalanche forecasters of the NW Weather and Avalanche Center (NWAC) to provide accurate, consistent and on-time reports for our backcountry adventures. Alarmingly, the funding and the future operation of NWAC are in jeopardy.
NWAC is funded by government agencies, the Friends of the Northwest Weather and Avalanche Center, and by individuals like you and me. In recent years, government funds have either remained flat or declined. Combined with slowly increasing salary and equipment costs, this has placed the Center in a $35,000 budget hole this year. If this hole is not filled, NWAC will cease operating a month early. Center Director, Mark Moore, is estimating a $70,000 budget shortfall next year. If that budget gap is not plugged, the Center will cease operating next season.
No NWAC means no avalanche forecasts, no snowpack evaluation, no mountain weather forecasts, no hourly data, no educational efforts and no accident information. In short, without NWAC there will be no web site or recordings, and in all likelihood we will witness a significant increase in backcountry deaths.
You can help! The Washington State legislature is currently developing its supplemental budget for 2006, and the Friends of NWAC are working overtime in Olympia to pressure our legislators to include $35,000 in the budget to cover this year’s shortfall. You can make a donation to the Friends of NWAC to support our increased lobbying efforts on behalf of the Center. Every little bit will help us preserve this critical resource. Your gift can keep the phones on, keep the website current with updates, keep our volunteers in Olympia, and ultimately keep the avalanche forecasters in the field!
Please make a donation today to keep this critical resource center open.
Sincerely,
Benj Wadsworth
President, Board of Directors
Your gift to the Friends of the NW Weather and Avalanche Center is fully tax-deductible, as we are a 501(c)3 organization. Please go to our website at www.avalanchenw.org to donate to the cause!
