AERC Reno: Trails Committee Meeting

[connie B Berto <cberto@juno.com>]

This report is a bit belated.  I came home to be subpoenaed to testify in
an assault case (it ended well; the creep was convicted of battery & will
be sentenced Mar. 24).  Then, Tuesday was election day here and as an
inspector, I ran a polling place all day.   So, I regret that I am a bit
tardy in posting this, but here goes!
     I came home from the convention  feeling really good about the
upswing in  "trails awareness" at the convention.  I think I heard more
talk and had more conversations about trails, access, and preservation,
than in the last ten years of AERC conventions all put together.. That's
good!   I want to thank the 40 people who came to the Trails Committee
meeting.   We heard some problems, heard some advice,  heard Crockett
Dumas give a fine talk about his efforts to keep Outlaw Trail going and
the current status of the Grand Staircase-Escalante Nat. Monument
Management Plan.  Sharon is keeping Ridecamp up to date on that issue.   
     We heard Steve Shaw give us really GOOD news about a new riding
trail he is developing in California.  This is called the Cuesta to Sespe
Trail and will be about 150 miles long.   A group called SLOPOST (San
Luis Obispo Parks, Open Space and Trails Foundation) is accepting letters
of endorsement and donations toward completion of the trail.   As Trails
Chair of AERC, I have written a letter of endorsement to SLOPOST, and a
cheque for $250.00 from AERC's Trails Fund is going to them.  Jerry Fruth
was not to be outdone,  and he matched that amount!  Thank you, Jerry!
    Many of you attended the panel discussion meeting on Friday,
presented by Julie Suhr.   As a panel member, I had my "bit" to say about
trails, including the news that I am going to Washington DC Friday Mar.
12 to "Hike the Hill" (lobby for trails with our public agency reps.)
with the American Hiking Society.    Dick Dawson of Bishop, Calif.,
jumped up and passed the hat -- three water pitchers, actually -- to help
pay my expenses.   He collected $684.00, just like that!   I was in such
a state of euphoria then  I forgot to get his name, but I tracked him
down the next day and gave him a hug.
      I want to say this, that I have turned the entire amount over to
the AERC Trails Fund.   My husband's frequent flier miles on TWA will get
me to DC and back and I'll be sharing a hotel room with trails advocate
extraordinaire, Nancy DuPont.    Thanks, many thanks,  to everyone who
contributed.  (Now if that snow will all melt away....)
   Linda Cowles volunteered to help set up an email or web site to help
get out news of late-breaking and important Trails information.   
Thanks, Linda!
    Pat Oliva,  Maryland, was there, plus Ann Parr from Utah and Penny
Scribner, Calif., all long-time Trails Committe members.  Susan Brehm
came to Reno from Virginia for her very first convention.  Susan is the
newest member of the TC and I hope to meet up with her again in D.C. 
    Next:   it's my goal to get members on the Trails Committee from
every region of AERC -- all nine of them.  Right now we need volunteers
from these regions:  Northwest, Central, Midwest, and Southeast.     
Here's what I expect from you:   information about trails
conferences/conventions in your area, and if at all possible your
attendance at such meetings.  (Don't forget, the AERC Trails Fund will
pay for those registration fees.)   I'd like an article or two for Trail
Talk in 'Endurance News'.   I'd like you to pass on success stories and
good tips for lobbying.   How about it???
    I'll post the list of TC members on Ridecamp when it gets sorted out.
 Thanks to all who are plugging away as  Trails Activists...if we have no
trails, we have no sport.   Cheers,  Connie Berto,  Trails Chair.

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