Leinen- 1st Quarter 2002 Report

• only 16% of revenue in due to timing of membership renewels, direct mail etc- not cause for concern
• Yost- when is next direct mail?
  • Papp- September
• Blount moved to approve budget report, Lucas 2nd, passed

New Chapters- Gaylord Yost

• Hiawatha Shore-to-Shore
  • Veit- thinks this chapter will be a good group- ambitious
  • Papp- already have Field Grants approved
  • Young- have plans for Chapter web site
  • Yost, Papp- looking for good working relationship with FS
• Itasca Moraine- does not include Itasca SP and Chippewa NF- will promote but not maintain
  • Leinen- currently paid maintainers in those two management areas
  • Does include the Paul Bunyan SF and the Bad Medicine section
  • Blount- what if the paid maintenaince ends?
  • Leinen- will cover that if needed
• Veit moved to accept charters, Leinen 2nd- passed

Alliance Agreement with Buckeye Trail Association- Papp

• encouraged that BTA wants to take this step- they have been very independent
• Harris- increased communications have improved the relationship
  • Sprague has always advocated, now more voices
  • Willing Seller will help BTA
• Szabo- what number of memberships ?
  • Harris- 1200- about same size as FLTC
• Veit- is there a reciprocal discount to join an Affiliate if you belong to NCTA?
  • No consistent policy- would be good to develop one
• Szabo- the 10% goal of shared memberships from FLTC has been made this year
• Papp- NCTA is trying to track shared memberships in the database
• Williamson- can we prepare a sheet of dues structures for us and Affiliates?
• Blount- would like to see addresses etc to see how to join
• Papp- will start doing cross promotion with information requests- but not renewal requests
• Williamson- what percentage residual membership stays each year?
  • Papp- about 70%
• Blount moved to approve Alliance Agreement with Buckeye Trail Association, Harris 2nd, passed

Timber Management Policy- Blount/ Papp

• pretty good as rewritten- too vague "close proximity" "aesthitics"
• Szabo- original policy sounded like a strip being left was ok- leads to falling trees
• Veit- concern about public relations aspects
• Yost- different sets of relations with Federal/ State/ County foresters- maybe should refer this to the Trail Councils
• Blount- National and State forests were sent copies (10 yrs ago) and asked for responses-- got none
• Lucas- Actual policy has no effect unless it is written into managers, contracters policies.
• Veit- good to keep our opinions in front of land managers despite their lack of action
• Papp- gives volunteers something to refer to
• Gilbert- would be good to involve people with Forestry experience- Menke, Szarka, Lucas
• Szarka- We can't ask managers to enforce our policies, but can ask them to respect our input- statement of our ideal is reasonable and needed
• Blount- manager vision is changing to include more recreation
  • Beye- agrees that State Forest NY vision is shifting- relationships important
• Young- would like to see protection of trail marking as a minimun
• Szarka- let's emphasize in a preamble- WHY do we want this- to preserve the recreation portion of the Forest's Mandate
• Beye- private logging operations are often a problem too
• Beye- might add comment that volunteers can help restore or reroute trail with cooperation
• Lucas- Our policy needs to get to Forests to be included in their planning processes
• Veit- Moves that we ask the Trail Councils to consider and comment, before the August Conference, on a draft policy, including preamble, comments from board meeting minutes, comments from those with forestry experience, crafted by NCTA headquarters. Leinen- 2nd, passed

Request by Tait to use NCT trailer for travel work experiences- explained by Papp for Tait

• Tait wants crew to travel to other NST's to learn and share experiences
• Veit- AHS already does this... we need to see more of a plan
• Szabo- it's not a proposal yet, we can't take action on it
• Williamson- need to hold until we get more specific information and a real proposal
• Papp- issues might be insurance (is this within the Mission of the NCTA?)
• Williamson- Moves to ask Tait for specifics and and a proposal that is within the mission.
• Gilbert- other trails might feel imposed upon
• many comments to just take advantage of exisiting volunteer opportunities
• Williamson- Withdraws previous motion. Moves to disapprove the proposal. Leinen 2nd, passed

ANNUAL CONFERENCE TOPICS

Annual Conference Sites- Papp

• Suggests looking at 1996 on as a cycle- next year would then go to WI & UP, then 2004 OH
• Harris- OH BTA annual meet is 3rd weekend in April
• Veit- do we want a NCTA only conference or have in conjunction with an Affiliate Annual Meeting?
• Papp- should the Trail Council hosting the meeting be given the freedom to decide?
• Leinen- Moves with only 2 1/2 board meetings we should preserve our schedule- our conferences should be in August or September . Williamson seconded. Passed
• Blount- moves to follow cycle from 1996 on following Trail Council structure. Williamson 2nd.
  • Gilbert- historical note- always Annual Meeting in early days in White Cloud, MI spring
• Vote passed
• Yost will send info to Trail Councils with schedule

2002 Conference- by Lindgren/ Papp

• Valley City will be host city
• hopefully there will be a newly certified portion of trail
• Garrison Diversion Conservancy District will sponsor a bus tour to see some trail sections
• Varies from previous style- everyone will go on Saturday bus tour to Western Terminus.
• Young- so many different things to see, we should see it.
• Lindgren- listed some of the different things
• Veit- people he knows want to see the end of the trail
• Gilbert- agrees that if we are going, people want to see it- maybe add Lewis & Clark Interp Center
• mutual decision to put some driving time during less useful hours- agreed on continental breakfast on the bus
• offer it as only Saturday option... those who decline to go need to be more or less on their own. Valley City has trails, pool etc
• Friday will be intensive seminars
• Board meeting will be a little tight- Thursday afternoon
• Thursday evening will be a dedication of the new trail section
• Szabo- let's eat at the meeting to give us more time
• Veit- do we want to consider going back to 4th meeting a year?
  • Yost- short meeting at conference is ok
  • Young- appreciates time to hear from people who submits report
  • Papp- do we want to put meeting on Sunday? Generally said NO
  • Leinen- written reports are fine
  • Young moved to keep 3 meetings a year with one at annual conf, do it efficiently. Leinen 2nd. Passed (just reaffirms the status quo)

Draft of State Level MOU- Gilbert

• most is cut & paste boilerplate stating existing goals and roles in generic format
• didn't try to recraft the PA, AT MOU language to fit the NCTA yet... it is too specific with too much local history.
• Next step might be to get managers to just follow the existing Handbook.
• requests feedback as we have time to look it over, and guidelines as to where to go next
• Needs time to include some of the management language from the Handbook

Break for lunch 12:05

Michigan- Wisconsin Coordination efforts- Yost

• State Coordinator position for Wisconsin efforts focused on getting funding from State Legislature- similar to what Ice Age Trail gets
• need draft bill to go to legislature to ask for $50-60K
• Michigan- Trail Council is being asked to make a recommendation for MI person

Arrowhead Reroute Planning- Gilbert/ Szarka

• Ken Howell is working on this- will meet with planning teams and then public
• needed to determine level of environmental review that was required
• hope to have a document to go to Regional NPS for review this year
• must work with various agencies- USFWS- endangered species
  • Historic Preservation Act- archeology & cultural resources
  • Corps of Engineers- wetlands will need lot of support during public input process
• Potential for grant support in Itasca County

Minnesota LCMR Proposal- Leinen

• proposal to request $486K to extend trail from the Kek to Grand Rapids area
  • request last year was cut- told to ask for more
  • will be lobbying this year
• Williamson- SHTA has also asked for $200K to complete Duluth to Two Harbors
• about 60% of the money needed to hire MN Regional Coordinator

Strategic Outline- Papp

• Need to have this in place before we can hire Development Director
• Have $16K restricted grant to have someone write a Development Plan
  • might not be enough
• Then will raise the money to hire a Development Director
• Lucas- Vision is good- purpose, methods, services, organization
• NPS Strategic Plan matches almost exactly the headings proposed here

Willing Seller- Blount

• still needs action
• see Gary Werner's testimony at www.northcountrytrail.org/testimony.pdf
• Gilbert- letters are important- one staff member is against it. The committee needs input from large numbers
• when it passes, money will be able to be spent where planning processes are complete
  • Blount- funds will have to then be allocated for staff and for where purchases will be made.
  • Leinen- need our DD program in place so we can respond quickly to opportunities.

Appropriations (Interior Appropriations Committee)- Blount

• contact your legislators to see why they have not signed, or to thank them because the comment period is closed

Commercial Use White Paper- Yost

• John Romanowski has proposed using the AT paper as a template
• Committee is set up with Gaylord Yost chair,. Ken Howell, NPS, D.S. Jones, USFS, and L.E. Russell, USFS, and G. Harris, USFS.

North Star- Veit

• Have improved the color, layout and graphics
• Need to make it more inclusive in content
• needs help- needs responses from people
• Young- maybe send a notice to chapters that feedback is part of their responsibilities
• Szabo- can we tie this responsibility to funds?
  • Papp- only through Field Grants

National Trails Day Events

• WI- to honor Gaylord Nelson- role in National Trails Act passage
  • opening of "Trail Portal" with spur to the NCT
  • Nelson will be given honorary ranger award
• MI- Spirit of the Woods will host a family day with a Voyageurs theme
• GALYANS- Williamson reports that crews can go to work on trails. They will supply projects
• TARGET- Szarka reports that they will also do volunteer projects

MMBA MOU Status- Papp

• The executive director of the MMBA, who seemed willing to support the DFC to some extent through an MOU, is gone.
• Now communicating wtih MMBA's president, who wants an MOU of some sort, but probably not with agreement on the DFC.
• We need to be at least communicating w/ other user groups and maybe that's where the MOU needs to start.
• Pres Tim Blumenthal of IMBA has said he is interested in meeting to talk about the issue.
• see the ongoing postings on the NCTA bulletin board begun by Erdman
• Gilbert- there will be a letter by May 15 to look at the issue of bikes on NPS lands. PEER (Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility) is involved and questioning legality of opening some National Park trails to bike use.
• Gilbert- Suggests not talking about our "rights," just talk about what we want.

Trail User Statistics- Williamson

• There is a MN website to provide access to legislators
• Report from American Recreation Coalition (funded by motorized sports)
  • 20 of 37 tracked activities
  • wildlife viewing and hiking are up
  • decline in younger people participating

NCTA History- Leinen

• Has concerns to get our history captured before access to memories is lost.
• Need an active History and Heritage Committee
• Process plan available to get that history- maybe CCS funds can help?
• Could we get an intern or a grad studemt to work on collecting data?
• Can we get something in print by our 25th Anniversary?

Trail Foreman- Lucas

• Are we looking towards keeping a realistic role of Trail Foreman after Bill Menke eventually leaves?

Reports

• Reports- Reports presented in writing- time not taken for additional verbal reporting except
• Young requested to make comments about web site usage. The number of total hits is up, but perhaps more important, the number of different addresses of people accessing the site has increased as well to over 2200 different users/ week.

Future Meeting Dates

• August board meeting will be Thursday the 15th at 3 pm
• December board meeting will be the 7th at Lowell, MI

Meeting was adjourned at 3:15 pm