North Shore NEMBA November 8, 2008 Meeting Minutes

Held at NS NEMBA President Frank Lane’s house in Byfield, MA

• August Minutes were approved
  1. There weren’t any, but all agreed the it was mostly about the Wicked Ride and Fall trail work events
• Treasurer’s report received via email from NSNEMBA Treasurer, Ron Corporon
  1. Balance was approximately $4,700. This does not include the Wicked Ride proceeds (see below)
  2. Dan noted a lot of money was spent on wood this year
• Website - Kirk
  1. Updated with photos from trail days; Sept 13 Harold Parker/Jenkins reroute; Oct 19^th Ward Hill bridges, and  Oct. 5^th Tompson St. reroute
  2. some groups and individuals wanted a link to other organizations from NEMBA websites (e.g. LunaChicks, Diesel [added])  
• Trail days update for Fall/next year - Dan
  1. As noted above, we had successful days Sept 19^th at Harold Parker State Forest (reroute around the Jenkins Road glacial erratic); Oct. 5^th at Tompson Street (Essex County Greenbelt Assn); and Oct 19^th, building bridges at Ward Reservation in Andover (Trustees of Reservations)
  2. Dan said DCR staff is pleased with reroute at Jenkins Road, and they have promoted this improvement to their regional manager
  3. We discussed what areas we should focus on next year:

                                          i.    Frank – Willowdale is used a lot by riders and runners – we could do more there

                                         ii.    Dan  - Ray Focher, DCR district supervisor, would like to close some fire roads in Harold Parker because they get too wet

                                        iii.    Joe – should do another connector to Moon Hill. Also, do more work with Greenbelt and DieselBikes?

                                       iv.    Steve – could do more work at Tompson Street, on section near Rt 133

                                        v.    Lee – could put a trail in Harold Parker near Marblehead Street

4. Dan – suggests we could give t-shirts to folks who make a certain number of trail days
• Harold Parker trail signing - Dan
  1. Dan has been working with DCR on a proposal to put trail signs in HP
  2. Dan noted that NEMBA Executive Director Philip Keyes really wants to see this happen
  3. Dan noted that DCR wants more detail on these signs than just a trail or intersection number
  4. Frank mentioned the signs used at Bradbury in Maine – they show a map of the park, and indicate where you are
  5. Dan – the signing effort could cost thousands
  6. Dan mentioned NEMBA’s Board of Directors (BOD) is setting up a signage group that will come up with sign standards
• Wicked Ride results - Steve
  1. 271 paying riders, 60 new memberships, about $1700 in proceeds to our chapter
  2. Great job on food!
  3. Sent thank-you to our vendors
  4. Some ideas for next year

                                          i.    Better-organized food table

                                         ii.    Water table; maybe someone at Jenkins Road parking lot with water?

                                        iii.    Parts table

                                       iv.    Next year will be 10^th anniversary holding WR at HP; maybe sell anniversary t-shirts? (Lee – knows people who do graphic design, will look into having them do a logo design)

                                        v.    Attractions – maybe get mountain unicycle guy to perform?

• Donation of WR proceeds - ideas
  1. Dan – some money could be spent at HP for fire road work, signage, rebuild Salem Pond bridge
  2. Joe – mountain bike for Greenbelt’s Kathy Ward
  3. Joe/Steve - $250 each for Greenbelt and  Trustees of Reservations – these donations were approved at this meeting
  4. Kirk – tool trailer? Dan noted we can get a NEMBA grant for this; also, some questions about where it would be kept, etc
  5. Dan – do we need tools?

                                          i.    Joe – more pick mattocks

                                         ii.    Steve – rock bars

                                        iii.    Kirk – rock carrier – so more than one or two people can move rocks (there was some discussion on what this would look like; Lee was going to look into this. Traildynamics [www.traildynamics.com] used to make a rock carrier)

                                       iv.    Kirk – safety glasses and gloves

• Election of officers
  1. Same set of officers were elected this year, as below, with the exception that Kirk Goldsworthy agreed to take over for Ron Corporon as treasurer (thanks for all the work, Ron!)

                                          i.    President – Frank Lane

                                         ii.    Vice-President – Fred White

                                        iii.    Treasurer – Kirk Goldsworthy

                                       iv.    Secretary – Jim Humphrey

                                        v.    BOD – Dan Streeter

                                       vi.    Trails Coordinator – Dan Streeter

                                      vii.    Wicked Ride coordinators – Dave McCrimmon, Steve Charrette

2. Dan noted that he would be glad to help members take responsibility for a particular property, i.e. by helping them work with the DCR, ECGA, TTOR and their property managers, etc. Many chapters have a VP assigned to particular popular parks. Steve said he would be interested in doing this in the Gloucester area.
• Other
  1. Lee reports that the Burlington land-locked forest will NOT be sold, see link for more detail - http://www.landlockedforest.com/ .