President’s Message: March 2026

By Dan Bucci, President, Foothills Coalition

Hello fellow members and trail supporters! This will be my final president’s letter to you all as we elected a new Executive Board at our February board meeting. We had a number of board members who were ready to take on leadership roles in the organization, and after serving three terms as board president it is time for me to step aside and turn the reins to new leadership. The four board members who are stepping in to fill our officer roles are all excellent choices and are ready to continue and improve upon all the great work the FTC is currently doing!

I wanted to take a few moments in my last letter to reflect on the last three and a half years, and how much growth the Coalition has seen in that time. Early in 2022, we had a significant departure of our leadership with both the sitting President and Vice President resigning from the board for personal reasons. This left the Coalition with an uncertain future and limited leadership. 

In the 40 year history of the organization, we had always been run solely by volunteers, with the Coalition president doing a significant amount of work to run the organization. In the wake of the resignations, we fortunately had a past board member, Bryan Bowden, step in and essentially serve as active President while he was the Secretary. Bryan, and a number of other board members recognized the Coalition was at a crossroads. All of the board members at the time recognized the amount of work the board president was doing at the time, and no one was ready to step into that role. Our recommendation was to transition the organization from all volunteer, and move towards a model which would enable us to grow and move forward. That model was to hire a full time Executive Director. We also recognized we needed to couple this with implementing a new Strategic Plan.

Throughout the summer of 2022, we began to search for our future Executive Director, and with a little luck we had attracted a passionate and capable candidate who we hired in the fall of 2022. I had mentioned to Bryan that if we hired a strong Executive Director, I would be willing to serve as board President (as the position was still vacant) as we wanted our Executive Director to work with a fully staffed Executive Board. So, in fall of 2022 I became board president and we hired our new director Shayla Miles. 

Shayla jumped right in and instantly contributed to the Coalition. She helped kick off and lead our strategic planning efforts, she quickly began fundraising efforts, and brought much needed system and organization to the Coalition. Shayla was also instrumental in successfully leading our first Capital Campaign to construct the Dr. Tait Pavilion in Buckley. Shayla served as Executive Director for nearly two years, and took a new position with the Boys and Girls Club in 2024. She helped lead the search for her replacement and we hired Breanna Fokes in October of 2024 and she has served as our Executive Director since. 

Bre has brought a wonderful energy to the Coalition along with great organizational skills and a strong marketing background. Bre has continued to drive the Coalition forward by building strong partnerships, engaging local communities and other non-profits, and continuing to drive our workplan consistent with our strategic plan. It’s safe to say our move to the Executive Director model has transformed our organization in four short years. I almost think we would have dissolved the Coalition had we not moved in that direction. 

In the last four years, I have also seen the Coalition drive some major milestones to completion, and help drive others forward. We have celebrated the opening of the White River Bridge (for which the Coalition heavily advocated and helped fund), worked with Pierce County to expedite the replacement of the failed Spiketon Ditch Bridge, fund and construct the Dr. Tait Pavilion in concert with the City of Buckley’s new trailhead, implement a very successful volunteer work party program (for which we just won an award from Pierce County), reestablish and strengthen partnerships with communities along the trail, Pierce County Parks, and other regional trail non-profits, help complete land acquisitions for trail right of ways, provide advocacy and input into local trail projects, host membership gatherings and events, and showcase the Foothills Trail and Pierce County in the ever popular Rainier to Ruston Relay. I know there is so much more I’m missing from this list, but this just highlights how much we have grown since adding an Executive Director!

With all this said, I’m so proud of what the Coalition has become over these last four years! I’m also proud to say that this is just the beginning. We are committed to continuing our work to make our vision of a continuous non-motorized trail connecting Mt. Rainier to Puget Sound. I’ve said it before in my past letters, but the place we get to call home is one of the most beautiful places on the planet. The thought of a 50-60 mile trail spanning Pierce County and showing off towering Tahoma, the rainforests of Carbon River Canyon, the beautiful farms in our rural communities, our riverside cities in the Puyallup Valley, and the sparkling shores of the Puget Sound in Tacoma is all the justification we need to make this trail a reality. The Foothills Trail is a unique gem, and it has been my honor to play a small part in this organization to continue to make progress on bringing this trail into its full glory! I know our next executive board is equally committed to doing so as well. 

Thank you all for all that you do to support our vision, and our organization! It has been my pleasure to help lead this organization over the past four years!

-Dan