The Ice Age Trail Alliance is accepting applications for our Education and Outreach Manager position. Please read the Position Description and send applications to:

Ice Age Trail Alliance
Attn.: Mike Wollmer, Executive Director
2110 Main Street
Cross Plains, WI 53528

On July 14th, we went live with the new and improved Ice Age Trail Alliance website. Developed by Glowac+Harris, with input from IATA staff every step of the way, the site’s user-friendliness was designed with Ice Age Trail hikers and volunteers in mind. Here's are some highlights on features you're sure to enjoy:

- A new Trail Map and Current Conditions page that allows you to zoom in and explore every mile of the Ice Age Trail route, with both satellite and terrain views. Push-pins at various locations provide details on current Trail conditions. We'll feed updated GIS information into the page on a regular basis to keep the Trail route up-to-date as volunteers construct new segments and reroute others. Check here before you hike for the latest Trail info.

- Our new and improved Events Calendar page lists the entire range of fun and rewarding Ice Age Trail Alliance events on the horizon. Click any event to expand the listing and view details.

- Via our Volunteer Chapters page, you can explore each chapter's home page, "Hike the Chapter" page, and "Chapter Events" page.

- On our Make a Donation page, you can join the IATA, renew your membership, give a gift membership or make a donation through our secure online store.

- Each page on the site includes links to our Facebook, Twitter and YouTube pages.

Please drop us a line to let us know what you think. Send your comments to IATA Communications Specialist Eric Sherman (eric@iceagetrail.org).

We’re making progress but still short of our goal of 5,000 members on our "Drive for Five" membership campaign. We need your help now more than ever, so here are two incentives for those of you who have been a little shy about approaching potential new members:

- Thanks to a generous anonymous donor, you could win a cash prize for your member-finding efforts. Recruit five new members and you’ll be entered in a drawing to win $100. For every five members after that, you’ll earn another entry in the drawing. To be eligible, first refer five (or more) members to the Ice Age Trail Alliance. Then, send your list of referrals to IATA Director of Development Rebecca Hildebrandt (rebecca@iceagetrail.org). When we’ve confirmed all five, you’ll be entered. Only members recruited since January 1st, 2010, count toward this drawing.

- Starting August 1st, we’re doubling our chapter allocation for new memberships. What does this mean for your chapter? A chapter is typically allocated $5 of the membership contribution when members sign up and affiliate with the chapter. From August 1st through December 31st, that allocation jumps to $10 for each new membership.

For those of you who have already recruited 5 members, thank you! For the rest: no time like the present to share the Ice Age Trail with a friend (or five).

The Ice Age Trail Alliance has done plenty of metamorphosing in recent history. But through name changes and relocations, we’ve always kept the focus on the Ice Age Trail. That’s what we’ve done at our new headquarters, too. The Cross Plains office is situated right on the Ice Age Trail - in fact, if you were through-hiking the Trail, you could walk into our building, take a shower and continue on out the front door.

The Ice Age Trail Alliance was the recipient of an incredibly generous donation in late 2009 from the family of Margaret and Henry Reuss. Part of the donation is being used to help fund the future purchase of the IATA headquarters.

Just recently, the Reuss family made a second commitment to the Capital Campaign. The family has committed an additional $50,000 in funding, in hopes of encouraging an additional $50,000 to be matched by our members and supporters.
 
The Reuss legacy and the family’s confidence and support for the Ice Age Trail Alliance’s work are humbling and inspirational. We’re confident that we’ll secure the additional $50,000 over the next few months. If you are interested in learning about opportunities to be a part of this incredible donation match opportunity, please contact Executive Director Mike Wollmer or Director of Development Rebecca Hildebrandt at the Ice Age Trail Alliance office (800-227-0046 or 608-798-4453).

July 1st formally marked the 20th anniversary of the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program. The Stewardship Program is "one of only a few state funding programs in the country protecting important natural areas," says Kevin Thusius, IATA Director of Land Conservation.

Because the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program requires matching funds for land trusts like the Ice Age Trail Alliance, it nearly doubles the state’s land purchasing power and gives state residents a greater say in which lands should be protected. It’s funded the conservation of some 500,000 acres in 71 of Wisconsin’s 72 counties, according to the DNR. Thanks to this program, 2,330 acres and 70 miles of the Ice Age Trail have been permanently protected. In 2007, the state budget re-authorized the Stewardship Fund for 2010 through 2020. Another ten years of land acquisition successes are yet to come.

There’s hardly a better way to celebrate two decades of the Stewardship Program - and what’s to come - than by compiling photos of special places the program has helped preserve. And that’s exactly what our friends at Gathering Waters Conservancy aim to do with their first-ever photo contest. A photo of a sweeping Ice Age Trail vista or a quiet lake can demonstrate better than words how important the Stewardship Program has been in preserving and protecting Wisconsin land.

The Ice Age Trail Alliance, as a Wisconsin Land Trust, is a part of the Gathering Waters Conservancy. We hope you will help us to represent places along the Ice Age Trail that we can access thanks to the Stewardship Program. Submit your photos before September 1st and see all the details at the Gathering Waters website.

Ever dreamed of hiking the entire Ice Age Trail? Thanks to a fantastic volunteer, there's a great new tool available to fan the flames of your notion, or help you along if you've already committed to the journey. It's a wall-sized poster that allows you to mark off each segment as you complete it. It's available on our Section- and Thru-Hiking page along with lots of other helpful info for those tackling the whole Ice Age Trail.

There's a new tool available for Ice Age Trail volunteers: our Trail Signage Notebook. Signage can be a challenging topic, and this manual provides discussions and examples to help volunteers determine when to use which sign. You can find it along with other helpful resources on our Become a Volunteer page.

The North Country Trail Assocation's Annual Conference is coming to Ashland, Wisconsin, August 5th-8th. The NCTA is to the North Country Trail what the Ice Age Trail Alliance is to the Ice Age Trail, so this is a great opportunity to learn how they do things in one of our peer organizations. The North County Trail spans seven states, so their National Conference isn't in these parts often. Visit the NCTA website to learn all about it.

The Ice Age Trail Alliance recently launched a new YouTube page featuring inspiring and informative Ice Age Trail videos.

Wisconsin Public Television's "In Wisconsin" program also has aired several informative and entertaining features on the Ice Age Trail. Take a look at these videos via the "In Wisconsin" website.

The Ice Age National Scenic Trail was named as a "Life List" hike in the Readers' Choice Awards section of the January 2010 issue of Backpacker Magazine.

If you haven't added the Ice Age Trail to your life list yet, head to our Trail Map and Current Conditions page to find out where you can hit the Trail.