Spirit of the Woods Chapter NCTA General Meeting Minutes of 12/12/00

Members Present: Char Holly, Angie Addington, Gordon Wilkes, Joan Young, Ed Chappel, Mary Soule, Ed Morse. Guests: George & Sue Vaughn (want to be members), Garth & Kathy Giece (trail Time speakers from EMS in TC)

Meeting started at 7:45 with self introductions around the table. Minutes of last meeting were read by the Recording Secretary. There were two corrections. First: previous minutes recorded - Joan reported that Gary Cole had said that "Any gray diamonds can be removed." – This was stated by Gary Cole and only holds for the Manistee District, Not the Baldwin District. Second: Under discussion about the Heckman Fund and memorial – from the previous minutes - Ramona asked if NCTA has any guidelines for this. Joan replied that it would be the Forest Service policies. The minutes should have said Park Service policies for the trail.

Minutes of 11/14 were accepted and approved with the above corrections.

Treasurer, Mary Soule, reported a balance of $1118.36. Mary also reported that she has an Proposal (invoice) for the routed signs of $208.40 + shipping. They will send a "mock-up" of the signs. Char suggested we pay half and pay the other half when we get the signs. Ed Chappel said this would be difficult with the actual payment made by the National office.

Mary will submit the invoice to the office to be paid.

Char then introduced Garth Giece of EMS in Traverse City. Garth talked to us about backpacking equipment.

According to Garth, Backpacking, as opposed to just hiking, requires a backpack and is essentially like moving your house. You are moving 20 to 35 pounds of stuff – and this taxes your feet more than just walking. He talked about boots and showed us his heavy weight backpacking boots. He talked about socks, advocating liner socks with a wool sock worn over them. (He recommended Gobi polypro Wigwam liner socks. He also indicated that he wears a light weight polyester long underwear in the winter.

Moisture control is important when backpacking. Cotton will be cold when wet. Wool will absorb moisture and still be warm. The artificial fabrics are lighter in weight and do not absorb moisture.

There are several types of raingear. These vary from inexpensive coated water raingear to various ponchos and to high tech Goretech and similar fabrics. Each system has advantages and disadvantages. The important thing is to cut down on convective heat loss.

He talked about spare clothing. Garth says that all the spare clothing you should carry is liner socks, heavy socks and underwear.

Garth said that the other parts of the "house" we carry backpacking are the bedroom, bathroom and kitchen.

KITCHEN – He showed us his kettles, food and stove. He talked about several kinds of stoves and fuels. His stove was a very experienced whit gas stove. He said that butane is not a good fuel for winter since it does not work well in cold or high altitudes. A propane/butane mixture stove is more versatile and the fuel canisters are lighter. He noted that the MSR multifuel stoves are light and compact.

He showed us the food he would carry for a weekend trip. I noted that it was all stored in the kettles so food, kettles and stove were all in one bag.

He talked about water filters and purifiers and discussed the differences. Pur, First Need , and Katahdin all make good filters with a big difference in price. Most backpacking stores will carry several brands.

He showed us his toilet kit, which comprised of a roll of paper and a plastic bottle of matches in a zip lock bag.

He showed us his first aid kit and discussed several items.

At this point in the discussion time was going by and there were other items on the agenda.

Garth announce that EMS would be having a Winter Trails Day January 20 and 21, somewhere on the Manistee trail. Parking would probably be at the Red Bridge.

ACTIVITIES: Next business meeting January 9, 2001: start planning for Trails Day

January 13, 2001 meet at Bowman Lake trailhead for skiing or snowshoeing.

NOTE: Romona said trailheads are not plowed!

Joan reported on the recent National Board meeting. Overall funding will be up. There has been concerns since Congress had said there would be less money available. In the end they have provided more than before.

Sometime midyear a Development Director will be hired – primary purpose will be to raise money. There is talk about hiring Trail Coordinators.

New Guidelines have been developed – to be by states with the exception of Michigan UP and Wisconsin.

Final word as of 12/12/00, The National office will be moved from downtown Grand Rapids to a location in Lowell which is just 2 blocks from the trail.

John Romanowski, FS Area Supervisor, got a request for a Freedom of Information disclosure for agreements regarding Trail restrictions from the International Mountain Biking Association. We don’t know what this might mean yet.

TRAIL WORK The routed signs for trail intersections are being worked on. The Boardwalk signs are being worked on. All trail work time (blazing, signing, Carsonite posts) should be reported to Ed Chappel. Even better would be to report all trailwork hours to Ed & separate by types of work.

Joan has turned in the Grant Request for Sterling Marsh, next year’s project, in the amount of $750 for two small bridges, posts and further planning.

Ed Chappel reported on his meeting with Les Russell, Baldwin District Ranger, and Diane Walker regarding work to be done in Sterling Marsh. They both agreed that trail work in this area will be a multi-year project. They will meet and walk through the Marsh again in the spring when it is wet to make a better determination of what needs to be done and where the trail can be re-routed to higher ground. Ed felt that the Baldwin District people were very recptive to working with us on the trail. The Baldwin District will be getting funding next year for a Trail Coordinator position

FOREST SERVICE REPORT Ramona reported that in the Blacksmith Bayou area ther is a short piece of trail that is on Tribal Land and must be relocated. Gary Cole, District Ranger, is the only person from the Forest Service that can talk to the tribe. Ramona can’t talk to them – (it is a position thing, must be someone in authority). Possibly someone in the Chapter could contact the Tribal people.

Romona has a new intern, Scott Haas, starting 1/5/01 and working until August. He will be developing signing for snowmobile trails. Scott will be at the Big M that weekend, helping out and skiing.

Ed Morse said that the chapter will need another Secretary since Nancy and I will be snowbirds and move to Florida for several months. Instead, Ramona volunteered to be substitute secretary while the snowbirds are away.

Joan reported that the Executive Committee meetings will be changed to the Ranger Station prior to the General Meetings.

Heckman Fund – nothing new to report.

Adjourned at 9:55