Crazy Mountain Access Fund Accounting

[RobG]

I've owed you guys this for some time:
Income: Total donations received (including my own contributions): $8125.74

Expenses:

Karl Knuchel (Attorney fees)	$2500.00
Kat QuannaYahu (services)	$ 500.00
Paypal fees	$ 237.22
Donation to Sweet Grass County Foundation (required by my settlement)	$ 500.00
Donations to Access groups (see attachment for details)	$4388.52
Total Expenses	$8125.74

As you can see, donations received equals expenses. My net personal contribution was $650.74, with $500 of that going to pay the settlement to SGCF. The next closest donation was $250.

Roughly 1/2 of your donation went to access groups. The other half went to attorney fees, Kat, and Paypal processing fees. One hundred sixty five people and organizations made donations, something that made me very grateful.

I personally donated $750.74 to the fund, not including my time and miscellaneous expenses including gas for trips to Big Timber and site visits. In addition I used my personal funds to post the $285 bond to the court (thus my total outlay was more than $1035.74). The $285 bond was refunded when I settled and I got a $100 tax credit for my Sweet Grass Community Foundation settlement so my net personal contribution (excluding gas, etc) was $650.74.

I've attached receipts of the donations I made to various access groups, SGCF, and the bond I posted that was refunded. If anyone wants to see the charges by Karl, Kat, and Paypal I'll have to go track down the invoices.

Thanks again everyone who donated. This experience has been both heartwarming because of the support and frustrating when people questioned my actions and how the money was spent.

 

[RobG]

The pdf doesn't appear to be attached. Let me try again.

 

[Irrelevant]

While the outcome was less than the HT following was hoping for, this level of accountability is pretty cool to see.

 

[RobG]

While the outcome was less than the HT following was hoping for, this level of accountability is pretty cool to see.

I would say the action accomplished its mission. If we did nothing we would have lost the trail for sure and this was the easiest to do. By doing something we raised national awareness and forced action to be taken which is what needed to be done. One thing I would do different is do the trail research before I went in there so I would have had a stronger case. I also think the various access groups could have been better in giving the District Ranger (Alex Siekiewicz) more shelter by taking on the issue before Alex had to stick his neck out so far to bring the issue to the forefront.

 

[RobG]

Someone pointed out I didn't detail the groups I gave to. Here they are:

Group	Dates	Amount
Public Lands and Water Access Association (PLWA)	12/31/2017 and 4/4/2019	$ 1,530.00
Backcountry Hunters and Anglers	2/23/2018	$ 1,059.26
Montana Wildlife Federaton	2/9/2018	$ 1,059.26
Park County Environmental Council (PCEC)	8/24/2017 and 2/9/2018	$ 500.00
Montana Sportsman Alliance (MSA)	1/13/2018	$ 240.00
Total		$ 4,388.52

Not to discount the other groups as they each work on very important issues, and they have helped in the fight for preserving access to the Crazies. However, PLWA is the sledgehammer when it comes to access. They have played a huge role in Montana's Stream Access Law and have also preserved access to many roads and trails. Often they need to take legal action which is extremely expensive. If access is a priority they should be on top of your list.

Here are the websites of the groups that helped bring access to the Crazies. Check them out and if you align with their mission support them!

PLWA https://plwa.org/
BHA: https://www.backcountryhunters.org/
MWF: https://montanawildlife.org/
PCEC: https://www.pcecmt.org/
MSA: http://www.montanasportsmenalliance.com/
EMWH (Kat's site): https://www.emwh.org/