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| Flagstaff Area ATV Club |
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| August Newsletter |
FLAGSTAFF AREA ATV CLUB
August Newsletter
8/13/06
President's Notes
Don opened the meeting welcoming all. The club would like to extend a thank you to the Natanis Campground for the great dinner that was put on in July. The club also would like to thank Rodney Gagnon for opening his property for the nice BBQ that was held last Friday night. Our web site has been down for about a month and we would like to apologize for any inconvenience this has caused anyone. We would like to let all members know that next months meeting will be held at the Masons Hall on School Street due to a dinner being held at the Community Center. There is going to be another trail added toward Bug Eye Pond and Gold Brook Road and we will discontinue using the boardwalk toward Natanis before route 27. This will also help the snowmobile club and they are willing to split expenses with us to accomplish this. That road will be gated once the new trail is finished. There will be 5 water crossings on the new trail and those will be dealt with. A third of this trail is already cut. The lumber from the boardwalk that we pull up will be reused. The club was able to bank $409.00 after expenses were paid after the Natanis Dinner. Mary Walker won the 50/50 raffle. Congratulations Mary! The ATV Newsletter was reviewed and will be a regular occurrence at our meetings moving forward. Events within 30 days will be announced from the publication. The club received a letter from the Department of Conservation and we now qualify for a grant for up to $5,000.00 due to the number of trails we now have and the money that's been invested in trails. We had to cancel the Mud Run due to the fact that we could not get the insurance needed for this event. We apologize to the folks that may have been inconvenienced by this and will start the planning process sooner next year. October is election month for officers so if anyone is interested in any of the posts please step forward and let us know. A motion was made and passed to give Nancy Hanson our secretary $300.00 for postage for the next 5 months so that she won't have to take the money out of her pocket and wait to be reimbursed. The motion was seconded and passed. The club gave Randall Erskine a well-deserved thank you and a gift certificate for all his effort and time put into the trails and running the excavator. Many thanks Randall!
Vice President's Notes
Sandy signed up a new member from a person who came up for the Mud Run. It was brought up that if you see anyone on the trails that is riding something other than an ATV please try to get a registration number and please call law enforcement.
Treasurer's Report
Bob went over the expenses and account balance. A motion was made and passed to accept the report. If you would like details on this please e-mail Bob at rdennett@maine.rr.com.
Membership Chair
Ruthanne reported that as of today we have 258 members. Membership is good from June through May 31st each year. It was brought up that the trails are open until the first snowfall that requires grooming or November 30th, which ever comes first. The only exception to this is the Alder Stream Area, which closes September 15th due to moose season.
Trail Master's Notes
July 12th, we picked up a lift of 2x6'planks at Stratton Lumber at a cost of $1,016.68 and then delivered the planking we needed to Tim Pond for the bridge. On July 13th Dick put down corduroy on parts of the new connector to Split Rock and signed the trail. On July 14th Don, Ray, Lee and Dick jacked up parts of the Pines boardwalk and then put a ramp on the bridge to Barnard and Tea Pond. The 15th Don, Pete, Ray, Lee and Dick finished the bridge on the Split Rock Trail to Tim Pond. The Penobscott Nation Forester called and asked us to put the bridge across Little Alder Stream as soon as possible. On July 18th Don and Dick met with Dick Scott (SFT) and he said we could reopen the portion of trail we had closed because of insurance questions (it was not marked right on their map). On July 19th Dick sent for the permit for Alder Stream to D.E.P. The next day they called and said Dick would have to go to LURC. On July 21st Dick added a 20' extension to the first bridge we built on the Rangeley Trail and brushed out the trail and moved rocks. On July 24th Dick drove to Skowhegan to have the Nation Forester sign the LURC permit before he went on vacation. On July 25th Don and Dick built a new 16' extension ramp on the Black Nubble Bridge and signed the Eustis Ridge Road for the residents. On July 26th Randall and Dick went to the LURC office in Rangeley and got the permit signed. On July 27th Don, Randall and Dick met and rode with Brian Bronson to check Bag Mountain (everything looked fine to him) and then walked the new proposed loop trail to Antler Hill, (that was also ok). On July 28th Don and Dick rebuilt and repaired the bridge on the Tertault connector on the Natanis Trail. On July 31st Don and Dick cut the three 40' trees for the Little Alder Stream Crossing. On August 2nd Don and Dick cut the planking for the bridge and cleared the Split Rock Trail of down trees from the wind. On August 3rd Don and Dick delivered the planking to the Alder Stream Bridge site and resigned the Split Rock Trail (it seems that people cannot either see or read the signs). August 4th - Dick cut remaining stock for Alder Stream Bridge and prepared for the bridge build. On August 5th Don, Ray, Pete, Phil, Lee and Dick built the 40' bridge with rails over Little Alder Stream in 8 hours. The winch and deep cell battery worked perfectly. August 11th, 15 machines met at the Pines parking lot at 6:00pm and had an 18-mile loop ride to Rodney Gagnon's house for a club BBQ. On Saturday, August 19th at 9:00am we will meet at the Pines parking lot for a photo shoot ride with Channel 17 reporter Nadine McLeod. The club passed a motion to purchase two Huskvarna chain saws, 40cc at $260.00 each.
There were 23 members present for this meeting.
The meeting was adjourned at 11:25am