GCWG Board Meeting Minutes 9/29/13
Location: The board meeting was held at the home of Doug Smith & Pat Potter. The meeting followed a potluck dinner.
Attendance: Tom Whitten, Gary Perkins, Tom Papathakis, Lisa Vonderharr, Bob Saint, Doug Smith, Al Rothenbach, Ingrid Anderson, Roger Shaw, Joan Shaw, Christine Lee Members/Guests: Nick Shade (USFS), Holly Whitten, Toni Wujek, Stephen Lee, Sue Perkins, Anne Steers, Patricia Potter, Kelly Larkin (USFS)
The meeting was called to order by Past President Al Rothenbach at 7:05 p.m. The minutes of June 9 were approved.
Treasurer's Report: Tom Whitten reported that we had a balance of $2377.10 in our checking account. This was after a payment of $1609.50 for Vasquez Wilderness signs. There was a question if we needed more T-shirts and the consensus was that for the moment the market was saturated for sales of T-shirts. Lisa made a motion to approve the treasurer's report. Doug seconded. The motion passed.
MEMBERS MEETING: Our fall meeting is set for Sunday, November 3 at 5:30 p.m. at the Y. Christine will check with the Y on the main course (maybe lasagna). Our speaker will be Roger Rood who will speak about the history of the wilderness. In our area.
REPORT ON SUMMER ACTIVITIES: (What worked and what didn't work). Junco Cabin road still not graded. Nick Shade will check on this. There were complaints from backpackers about Knight Ridge trail being almost impassible because of downed trees. Nick reported that since this is one trail among many and not in a high use area it is not a high priority. He and other rangers have asked to have it cleared but the decision is not up to them. He recommended writing a letter to higher authorities. This might help.
There followed a discussion on what GCWG considers wilderness priorities. Doug again spoke about needing a re-route through the wetland areas on the Columbine Lake Trail; it is being trashed by hikers making their own paths through the muddy areas. Knight Ridge - open up the downed trees area. It's only a mile or so. A motion was made by Roger Shaw, seconded by Bob, that he (Roger) write a letter to the USFS asking that they make these priority projects. Nick proposed that a meeting be scheduled, possibly on Friday, between GCWG reps and him, Izzy & Lisa (rangers) regarding our club's wilderness priority projects.
Doug asked that anyone who was interested meet on Saturday, October 5 at Junco Cabin for trail work with Andy Borek (USFS). Al will put the time and other pertinent info on the website.
Trail work Tuesdays were fairly successful. A suggestion was made that perhaps next year some weekends could be scheduled.
Trail Training Day in June—Was good/successful.
Trail Assessment – Not as successful. The form to fill out was too cumbersome. Next year the form could be on the website. Suggestion: Hand out trail assessment forms at the spring meeting next year so more of our members would know what to be aware of and what to look for.
Doug would like GCWG members to be able to get FS certification for the use of hand saws and chain saws or at least learn how to use them more safely and more efficiently.
Cabin Hosting: Did not go too well. When hosts had schedule conflicts they kept called Maryann. She is not responsible for finding subs – it is the cabin host's responsibility. Al suggested that at the April meeting we give everyone a list of members (with phone numbers), who can host at Junco or at Monarch cabin. That way if someone can't keep their scheduled date they can call and arrange their own substitutes. Problems at Junco Cabin: Gary reported that he and Sue had a problem – couldn't get a bar to close the door. Al said that the bar had to be put in a certain way. Also the door needs to be planed – it sticks. These problems will have to be fixed next year.
SMOKEY BEAR VOLUNTEERS: Christine will have a sign up sheet at the Fall meeting.
SPRING CAMPING TRIP: Al asked everyone to start thinking about this event. Who can lead it, where and when.
T-SHIRTS/SWEAT SHIRTS: At this time we have all sizes.
NEWSLETTER: Holly asked if she could put in the phone numbers of board members in the newsletter. Everyone agreed that phones were okay but not e-mails. The website has e-mails that are specific to board members.
50TH ANNIVERSARY: Ideas for celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Wilderness Bill. Suggestions: Toni/Beth – 50th walk for wilderness. Joan – Have GCWG participate in the Granby July 4th parade and advertise our group. Nick – Advertise projects in the newspaper. Bob – put in press releases in the newspaper. Also have workshops and talks. Nick reported that all 2014 Public Land Day projects will be Wilderness projects. He asked whether we could form a 50th anniversary group to work on these or any other ideas.
BULLETIN BOARDS: Ready to put up. Have a couple of workdays next year to put them up. However, it would be a good idea to have an inventory taken of all bulletin boards and kiosks. Do we need a kiosk at every trailhead box or vice versa. The consensus was “not always”. Nick mentioned that after October 1, he has no more money in his wilderness budget.
DUES: The discussion centered on the GCWG dues - should they be higher? Pro: our dues are one of the lowest in Grand County. Con: other clubs give their members more membership perks. We had discussed in previous meetings about raising dues based on whether or not members worked/volunteered/helped at our events. This was felt to be too cumbersome for the moment. Tom Whitten made a MOTION TO RAISE DUES TO $20.00. Gary seconded. After some further discussion the motion CARRIED. Al said that we should let our members know what we spend this money on and what we plan on doing. He will write an article and send it to Holly for the newsletter.
NEW BUSINESS: Joan Shaw brought up a new place to have our picnic. Betty Dick's cabin in Rocky Mountain National Park. The Park wants to raze the cabin that her group (name?) wants to save and use for educational purposes. If more people used it perhaps it could be saved. There was a discussion on whether or not the cabin could house our event. There are many logistics to work out. The location is not as convenient to many of our members. It has no water or electricity and little parking. What about tables and chairs? What happens if it rains? These questions would have to be answered before we could agree to this venue. The consensus was to table this idea until some of these questions could be answered. Joan agreed to get more information. Because her group needed an answer before our next meeting the board agreed to work on this via e-mail.
Al Rothenbach gave the dates for next year's board meetings. All on Sunday. January 12, March 9, June 8, September 14. Holly & Tom Whitten will host the January meeting.
Tom Whitten moved that we adjourn. Time of adjournment was 8:35 p.m.
Submitted:
Christine Lee, Secretary
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