Minutes February 21, 2006 Attendees: Miranda Shapiro, Karin Thomas, Zoe Sweet, Tom Sill, Reg Pullen, Robert Golden, Mike Smith, Lisa Readel, Donna Bishop, Don Luce (naturalworld@verizon.net). Welcome and Introductions Old Business 1. Approve January Minutes – The group agreed to approve the January meeting minutes at the March meeting since hard copies of minutes were not present at the meeting for review. 2. South Coast Striders – The February hike will begin at the Seven Devils Wayside at 2 p.m. as that will be at low tide and will be led by Don Luce. Information is available on the website with a link to the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department web page. The March hike will be at Millicoma Marsh and will be led by Jamie Fereday. The April hike will be at Euphoria Ridge and will be led by Don Ivy of the Coquille Indian Tribe with an assistant also from the Tribe. John Bragg needs information on the Euphoria hike including a map by March 20th. Reg Pullen said he would be willing to help lead the hike as well as the trail also accesses BLM lands. 3. Election of CRTP Executive Board Members President – John Bragg Vice President – Mike Smith Secretary – Miranda Shapiro Treasurer – Don Luce Donna Bishop recommended that there be a person in charge of marketing. Karin Thomas and Zoe Sweet have been writing articles about the hikes and John Bragg agreed to talk with Suzie McDaniels about including the articles in the Bay Area Hospital’s mailings on South Coast Strider hikes. New Business 4. Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area – Horsefall Dunes At the January Meeting, Jennifer Wade asked CRTP to write a letter of support for a new staging area at Horsefall Dunes and the group agreed to write the letter. Mike Smith later met with Jennifer Wade and Shannon Stewart to get more information on the staging area. After getting more information Smith determined that this would mean more people in small area which would create unsafe conditions, despite the fact that Jennifer Wade had said the new staging area would not over-exceed capacity at the January meeting. As the group had already agreed to write a letter of support, John Bragg sent out a letter of support on behalf of CRTP which was not reviewed by the rest of the group as timing was short and Jennifer needed the letter asap. John Bragg thought he had sent a draft letter out to the group but unfortunately no-one had received the email. It was agreed that the next time a request is made for support by CRTP, the group needs to have two meetings to be able to have ample time to review the request and make a good decision on whether to agree to the request or not. It was also discussed that it would be nice for CRTP to be a participant in planning processes earlier on in the process before the Forest Service or other agency makes a decision. For example, when it came to the potential purchase of the North Spit property it would have been helpful if CRTP was involved earlier on in the process. John Bragg and Reg Pullen agreed to make a draft letter to the Forest Service and the BLM requesting that CRTP be involved in planning processes before decisions are made. Donna Bishop said she is on the State Board of Oregon Equestrian Trails (OET) and could put more information out about CRTP to her membership and include a link on the OET website. Donna receives lots of requests from people about information on places to stay, things to do and needs more information for them. Blue Ridge officially opens on April 1st. 7. OCEAN update– OCEAN is a 501c3 and has different interests than CRTP with some similar interests. OCEAN could provide CRTP with some legal protection and management structure and CRTP could provide OCEAN with some energy and similar goals for trail resources. The MOU with OCEAN is due for renewal. John Bragg agreed to send out the latest version of the MOU between OCEAN and CRTP as well as the CRTP MOU for review at the next meeting. It was agreed that it would be nice to receive a statement from OCEAN about what changes, if any, they would like to see. Other Two Open Board positions – Don Luce brought up the fact that there are two vacant board positions, tourism and private lands. It was agreed that these position would remain vacant until the next election. Leave No Trace – there are nice brochures on this that could be useful to leave at trail heads and staging areas. One can see samples and get more information at www.lnt.org or call 1.800.332.4100. Anonymous donation for Winchester Trail Bridges – John Bragg agreed to speak with donor and see if donation is still available. Donna Bishop said instead of building bridges they are re-routing trails around bridges and connecting some new routes. Parks Department on Riley Ranch – It is mainly for ATVs. There will be no horse corrals and no permanent structures. There will be tent camping with no vehicle access. Agenda item for next meeting – goals, what we are about, what we want to do as a group. Adjourn |