Spirit of the Woods Chapter NCTA Minutes of 5/14/02

Minutes of General Meeting of Tuesday, May 14, 2002

Joan passed out the latest newsletter to be stuffed into envelopes.

Meeting started @ 7:09PM with seven members present: Joan Young, Ed Morse, Mary Soule, Russ Mehlberg & Pat Fisher, Rich & Dale Kreiger. Romona Venegas arrived late.

There was not enough for a quorum in April. Joan reviewed the items that were discussed. Membership stands at 65.

Mary gave the Treasurer's Report: as of 3/31/02 the chapter received dues of $131, with interest, we now have $3057.11. In addition we have $1935 for the Heckler Memorial Fund.

Joan reviewed and discussed the general NCTA organizational structure. This was followed with the NCTA Board of Directors report. Three new chapters have been approved. There are now a total of 24 active chapters.

The "Willing Seller" legislation possibly appears to be dead. This was a Congressional Bill to allow the National Park Service to buy land from a willing seller (no condemnation involved).

The Western Regional Trail Coordinator job has been posted. This will be a paid position. They are also seeking a Lower Michigan Trail Coordinator, which will be a volunteer position.

Coming Activities:

May 18, 2002, Work Day, meet at 9 AM, on Skocelas Road north of at the NCT crossing where the road changes fro blacktop to gravel.
May 28, 2002 7 PM at McCarthy Lake -finalize plans for Trails Day
June 1, 2002, National Trails Day
August 15-18 2002, Conference in North Dakota
September 14, 2002, Rekindle the Spirit - Big Bash and reelection of officers

Business:

Udell TH - The Forest Service has decided on the largest of the 3 plans proposed. The rational was that the parking lot will be used by many people other than hikers. When it is plowed in the winter snow piles will reduce effective parking area.
Placemat ads - Angie had copies of new and previous placemats. They will be in area restaurants soon. Joan had copies of the latest issue of North Star for people to place in their local libraries.
National Trails Day - Need to call all members to help. Joan passed out member lists with phone numbers. Four of us will each be calling about 12 people. Both Ramona and Angie will be giving talks at local schools.

minutes taken by Ed Morse, secretary