GCWG Board Meeting Minutes 3/11/12



Location: The board met at the home of Tom and Holly Whitten. The meeting followed a potluck dinner.

Attendance: Board members present were Jim Magill, Susan Ellis, Doug Smith, Tom Whitten, Chris Lee, Roger Shaw, Ingrid Anderson ,and Toni Wujek. Board members Jim Moat, and Jim Bernard were absent. Members Beth Collins, Al Rothenbach, Stephen Lee, Joan Shaw, Mike Brady, and Holly Whitten were also present.

Opening: The meeting was called to order by President Jim Magill at 7:00 PM.

Minutes from the last meeting were distributed and approved.

Jim Magill reported that the NFS is interested in having Adventure Backpacks available at Junco cabin, as they are at Monarch cabin. Brock McCormick will attend the Monarch and Junco cabin new host orientations and talk about the packs.

Board terms are up in April for Toni Wujek, Jim Moat., Susan Ellis, Ingrid Anderson, and Roger Shaw. In addition, Jim Bernard is resigning from the board. Toni Wujek and Jim Moat have served two terms and cannot be re-elected. Roger Shaw and Ingrid Anderson agreed to serve another term. Susan Ellis will not stand for re-election. We also have one board vacancy. This makes five board positions to be filled at the April election. Toni W., Joan S., and Chris L. volunteered to be on a nominating committee. Al R. will send a copy of the by-laws to Jim Magill so that we can verify the number of board positions required.

Beth C. reported that she has been in contact with Doreen Summerland of the NFS to schedule Daisy Days. Possible dates are 7/25 and 8/1.

Ingrid A., our hiking coordinator, suggested that we schedule this year's hikes on Friday. She is not always in the area, so Toni W. and Al. R. will be her backup . We will solicit hike leaders at the spring members' meeting. Chris L. suggested that we allow non-members on our hikes, to give the group more exposure and hopefully attract younger members.

The board discussed the recent lack of participation in our trail work days. When we solicit volunteers for work days, we need to emphasize that it is OK for a volunteer to back off when they have had enough. We also need to find volunteer opportunities that involve less physical labor. It was suggested that the newspaper notice of a work day be worded “come join …” rather than “we are sponsoring …”. This might attract more new volunteers.

The spring members meeting will be held at 5:30 PM on 5/15 at the Adams Camp at Snow Mountain Ranch. Toni W. will order fried chicken from City Market for 80 people.

We agreed that members who will not be able to make the spring meeting can call Mary Ann Groswold, our cabin hosting coordinator, two weeks prior to the spring meeting to schedule their cabin hosting dates.

Toni W. will schedule the Monarch cabin and Junco cabin hosting orientation dates and announce them at the spring meeting.

Roger S. is looking for someone to co-chair the registration box efforts with him.

Beth C. inquired about TUTI dates.

We discussed how the Grand County Wilderness Group can get recognition for its trail and cabin hosting work. The board decided to display a banner at both Monarch and Junco cabins while we are hosting. The banner will read “Hosted by The Grand County Wilderness Group”. Joan S. volunteered to take care of creating the banners.

Joan S. announced that the spring newsletter will be delayed until May.

Toni W. gave a report on the plans for the upcoming spring camping trip at Arches National Park.

The board decided that we would like to participate in the Fraser River Days once again. Joyce Clair will talk about our participation at the spring meeting.

The GCWG had been asked to provide the paper products for the get-together after Tara Jamison's memorial service. Doug S. explained why he voted “No” to this request: this was not something in the purview of the organization and does not further it's goal. We need to keep wilderness at the forefront.

Jim Magill raised the issue: what are we legally liable for when we sponsor hikes and TUTI trail work?

We sent the left-over White Deer Party gifts to Dave Kitts, to cheer him during his illness. Joan S. read a letter from Dave and Carol Kitts thanking the group for the gifts.

The board had a discussion about how to keep the group vital. Some thoughts and ideas:

Jim Magill summarized the discussion: we will focus on attracting new members and on our mission statement.

Al R. noted that the Volunteer Handbook is on our website. Do we need to send an e-mail to new members directing them to the handbook?

The next board meeting will be on Sunday, June 10th, at the home of Roger and Joan Shaw.

The meeting adjourned at 8:15PM

Toni Wujek, Secretary


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