History
Bike Walk Montana has a short history but a long vision– making Montana a better and safer state for bicycling and walking.
The seed for Bike Walk Montana was planted at the May 2011 National Bike Summit held in Washington D.C. Four Montanans – Melinda Barnes, Jim Sayer, Virginia Sullivan, and Darlene Tussing – were in attendance and began discussing why Montana was one of the few states with no statewide advocacy organization for bicyclists and walkers; what it would take to get one off the ground; and how to make it successful.
That seed started to grow in August 2011 when the Alliance for Biking and Walking offered to help create the organization. During the following months, a dynamic, diverse and state wide Leadership Team was assembled and started having regular teleconferences to make the statewide advocacy group Montana badly needed including expert coordination from the Alliance.
The first statewide meeting, called the Founding Summit, was held in April 2012 in Helena. Bike Walk Montana’s mission, vision, guiding principles and long term goals were all developed. Partners in this process included Alta Planning & Design, Bike Walk Alliance for Missoula, Big Sky Cycling and Fitness, Billings TrailNet, Helena United Cycling, Missoula in Motion, Montana State Parks, Prickly Pear Land Trust, River Stone Health, and WGM. At the same time, officers were elected, paperwork was filed to become a tax-exempt organization, and Melinda Barnes became the Executive Director.
Since this time, we have formalized a membership program and have had over 600 members from all across Montana; we have developed partnerships with state agencies in an effort to make our state safer and friendlier for bicycling and walking; we have initiated campaigns to improve laws impacting bicyclists and pedestrians; we have provided technical assistance and guidance to communities and trails groups all across Montana to improve bicycling, walking and rolling opportunities on the local level. We have an effective and engaged statewide board of directors . A start up grant and three subsequent operating grants were secured from the LOR Foundation.
In June, 2018, the Bike Walk Montana board and staff updated the BWMT strategic plan. Bike Walk Montana continued with a full time Executive Director, part time Outreach/Communications Liaison and also supported an Energy Corps/Ameri Corps education coordinator to advance Bike Rodeos, Walking School buses, Traffic Gardens, Senior Walks and other education programs. In 2021, Bike Walk Montana shifted to a part-time Executive Direectorship.
BikeWalk Montana has worked on adaptive bicycling, community bike shops, bike camps, improving Montana’s bike friendly status and networking with other regional and national groups such as The League of American Bicyclists, People for Bikes, AARP and Strong Towns.
In 2023, Logan Smith took on the role of Executive Director. Logan has worked diligently to apply for grant programs that will further trails/bikeways across the state of Montana in an effort to connect with the Hiawatha Trail and the Idaho Trail system. At the 2023 summer Board retreat, BWMT recommitted to developing a statewide Commuter Challenge which will promote walking biking and rolling across the state of Montana in and between communities. A fall 2024 community pop-up infrastructure project for Helena, Montana is also in the plans.