Trail News August '98 Next Meeting: Wednesday, August 12th, 6:30 PM, at the Community Rm behind the library

Trail Closings
At the July meeting we discussed reports of two trail closings in the same neighborhood. The first one had been reported a couple of months ago on Old Miner Rd. You may have noticed a report of someone on horseback being chased and cursed at in the Sheriff's record in the "Messenger". There was also a trip wire placed across the road that the Sheriff removed. Charlie Gabri had contacted the owner who is trying to close down this trail/old road and in May and tried to apologize for not contacting them before putting up flags and using the route for an equestrian fun ride. It's difficult with old roads that have several adjoining properties to know if we need to or who to ask for permission. Most roads are public roads, especially old roads, even if they are privately maintained. Anyway, he apologized and tried to make peace. Apparently the owner is still determined to try to shut off this route. Other adjacent property owners and local trail users want to keep the road open and so, the saga continues.

The second report was of a fence being built across the trail that goes from Yellowstone Rd and joins with the Todd Valley trail behind Sky View Mobile Home Park. As is usual whenever a trail closing is reported, we first have to try to find out who owns the property and if there is a legal easement or right of way protecting the trail. Then we have to try to approach the property owner and find out what is going on from their perspective and if there are any solutions. In this case, there is an easement to protect the riparian area along Todd Creek, but also mentions that the easement is for "compatible recreational uses". The County was contacted and sent a letter to the property owner advising them that the trail appears to be protected by the easement and should be preserved. They can put up a fence, but need to provide gates for trail traffic. The owner of the property has joined the Trails Alliance and we hope that we can work out a good solution.

Please see the enclosed letter from Russ Melanson for more thoughts on our mission to preserve, protect and maintain trails and how this plays out in real life. Russ is our Vice President and he and his wife Diane work on and use trails probably more than any of our other members.

Peachstone Trail Youth Outing
We're continuing our summer trail adventures on Thursday, August 13th with an outing on the Peachstone Trail to Peachstone creek. During the summer some of the teachers and older kids from Forest Cottage Preschool join us for the Youth Outings. This will an easy walk, about 1 mile round-trip. Meet at the Preschool at 9 AM and we'll be carpooling up to the trail head at the end of Oakwood Ln. Call Sherri at 367-3928 if you have questions.

Tevis Report - August 8th
This year traffic control into Michigan Bluff was an easy job. We had plenty of volunteers and not a lot to do since most of the crews knew they couldn't get into Michigan Bluff and didn't try. We hope we kept the residents of Michigan Bluff happy, although some people told us they missed hosting the party. We received some nice hats and t-shirts for our efforts and had fun visiting while doing our little job. Thank you to all the people who volunteered, and especially to Russ and Diane Melanson for organizing us.

Fall night out at Robber's Roost 9/30
The newest restaurant in town has invited all the non-profit organizations to choose a night to invite their members, family and friends to enjoy dinner there and they will donate 10% of the proceeds to the organization. That sounded like a good deal to the board and we had to make a decision before the meeting, so we chose September 30th for our night out. We hope a lot of people will come. The food and the atmosphere is a real treat!

Agenda for August 12th, 6:30 PM

1. Call To Order
2. Treasurer's Report
3. Political Action
     - BLM properties for sale
     - Monte Verde Estates Update
     - Mammoth Bar Update  
     - Update on trail closings
4. Trail Maintenance
     - Mumford Bar and trails in local US Forest Service area - Mark Lambert
     - Foresthill Divide Loop Trail - next work day, bbq, bike ride 10/3
     - Trail Scouting Reports
5. Outings
     - Next Youth Outing - 8/13, Peachstone Trail, meet 10 AM at Forest Cottage
6. Old Business
     - Tevis Report
7. New Business
     - Fall night out at Robber's Roost 9/30, fund raiser
8. Open Forum
9. Work on Map
     - Trails in upper Todd Valley area