North Country Trail Association

Brule-St. Croix Chapter

 

M I N U T E S

 

Fall Chapter Meeting

November 3rd, 2005

Solon Springs Community Center, Solon Springs, WI

 

 

1.  Call to Order

 

Chair Chuck Zosel called the meeting to order at 7 PM.   In attendance: Jim Antonson, Debbie King, Tom King, Tim Mowbray, Lynne Nason, Peter Nason, Peter Nordgren, Atley Oswald, Rolf Swanson, Shawn Wellnitz, Chuck Zosel, Dave Zosel.

 

2.  Approval of Minutes

 

Motion (Peter Nordgren, Lynne Nason) to approve the minutes of the April 14th, 2005 spring meeting passed.

 

3.  Treasurer's Report

Treasurer Peter Nason reported that the chapter has a balance of $1140 in its account at NCTA headquarters.  We have 43 members in the chapter.  Motion (Peter Nordgren, Atley Oswald) to approve the treasurer's report passed.

 

 

4.  Old Business

 

Trail Maintenance: status of trail adoption and maintenance was discussed.  Lynne will obtain forms used by Superior Hiking Trail Assn. Adopters to evaluate their trail each spring and fall.  We'll implement these for our chapter adopters.

 

Mark Van Hornweder, a chapter member and member of the Rovers, has offered to serve as an adopter coordinator.  Mark's offer would permit Peter Edmunds to focus on maintaining and coordinating equipment.  As adopter coordinator, Mark would recruit and train new adopters, remind adopters of their responsibilities, and review their work.  Motion (Peter Nordgren, Peter Nason) to designate Mark Van Hornweder as chapter adopter coordinator and Peter Edmunds as chapter trail equipment coordinator, contingent on their acceptance, passed.

 

Trail construction: the Rovers are now working 3/8 mile south of County M in the Bird Sanctuary, headed toward the intersection of Prairie Lane and Stuckey Road.  Trail has been laid out across the Brule Bog to Heyer Rd., where it will leave the Brule River State Forest.  Approval of Brule Bog boardwalk construction is still pending with DNR.

 

Project accomplishments:

New mower - has been acquired and grant matched by chapter labor.  Project will be closed this year.

Hwy 53 trailhead - complete except for the entry signs, which the Park Service will order.

Brule Bog boardwalk - still awaiting DNR wetland approval.  State Natural Area approval has been obtained.

Highland town hall well - awaiting a decision by the town board as to what will be done, and where.  Chuck expects they will decide to put in another sand point well.

 

Chapter hikes - fall hike was plagued by bad weather.  Lynne will get information for us from SHTA about how they run and publicize their hikes.

 

Public relations - we agreed that our National Trails Day event will be planned for 2006 with the Friends of the Bird Sanctuary, St. Croix Lake Association, and Friends of the Upper St. Croix River.  By involving four sponsoring groups we hope to get greater participation. 

New trail maps from NCTA were shared.  The Portage Trail maps are being distributed at several area locations.  A box attached to our kiosk at the boat landing was suggested.

Bill Menke is building a more bearproof register box using an ammunition box.  Atley may build new and replacement boxes for the chapter using Bill's design, if it's successful.

We discussed the register books.  The zip plastic bags are easily damaged.  Lynne will look for more durable plastic containers for register books.

Peter Nordgren mentioned NCT feature in Wisconsin Trails.  Good publicity, though our chapter section was not mentioned.  He will write a letter to the magazine to thank them for the feature and point out our new trail.

Chuck has placed a few geocaches along our trail.  See http://www.geocaching.com.

Nan Wisherd of Brule has written a book, "Pathways", about the history of the Brule area, featuring the portage trail.

 

 

5.  New Business

 

Nominations & elections:

 

Nomination (Lynne Nason, Peter Nordgren) of Peter Nason as treasurer.  Motion to close nominations and cast a unanimous ballot for Peter Nason as treasurer passed.

 

Nomination (Peter Nordgren, Peter Nason) of David Zosel as chapter chair.  Motion to close nominations and cast a unanimous ballot for David Zosel as chapter chair passed.

 

Chapter newsletter - send your news to Peter Nordgren, pnordgre@yahoo.com.  Newsletter must go to Lynne by January 26th for distribution.  About half of our chapter members get their newsletter via e-mail.

 

Hike With The Builders - postponed until spring.  We'll communicate with Bill Menke about scheduling.

 

Chapter meeting and work day - we'll hold our spring chapter meeting April 22nd at 9 AM at the Solon Springs Community Building.  Chapter work day will follow the meeting.

 

Grants - Motion (Dave Zosel, Atley Oswald) to authorize Peter Nordgren to submit the following grant proposals to the National Park Service passed.

 

1.  Nelson Portal Improvements - replacement highway signs and kiosk panel at the Gaylord Nelson Portal on Highway 27.

 

2.  Brule Bog Boardwalk West - materials to build the boardwalk and bridges over Porcupine and Catlin creeks.

 

3.  Destination Signs - funding to complete destination signs at all road crossings.

 

4.  Latrine maintenance - funding for our monthly service fees to Mr. Biffy.  This may be an NCTA field grant.

 

Gold Star Certification - Motion (Peter Nason, Tim Mowbray) to request Gold Star Certification from the National Park Service for all Brule-St. Croix certified trail passed.

 

Chapter Work Day coordination - we discussed the need to provide better organization of our work days.  We agreed Peter Edmunds would do a good job of overseeing chapter trail work.  Motion (Peter Nordgren, Lynne Nason) to designate Peter Edmunds as Chapter Trail Equipment andWork Day Coordinator, contingent on his acceptance, passed.

 

 

7. Next Meeting

 

Saturday, April 22nd, 2006 at 9 AM at the Solon Springs Community Center. 

 

8.  Adjournment at 9:15 PM.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Peter Nordgren

Chapter Secretary