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| Flagstaff Area ATV Club |
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| March Newsletter |
President's Notes
The meeting came to order at 10:20am and Don welcomed everyone. This will be the last meeting at the White Wolf for this year. Starting next month the meetings will resume back at the Community Center. Don shared a letter from FABA and there was discussion about renewing our membership. A motion was made and passed to pay $25.00 for renewed membership. Don also shared a letter from Northern Forest Canoe Trail. This club is looking at promoting the whole area and all the resources, not just canoeing. Pine Tree Society was looking for an annual donation and a motion was made and passed to donate $60.00 to the Pine Tree Society. The Pine Tree Society helps the disabled throughout the state of Maine. Don read from the A.T.V. Maine Newsletter dated March 2007. The following is an excerpt from that publication which is important to our growth.Comments on the Flagstaff Public Lands Unit
ATV Maine directly represents our 20,000 members and indirectly represents the other 40,000 taxpayers that registered their ATV's in Maine last year. We have been involved in this process for the Flagstaff unit since the first scoping session many months ago. While some progress has been made concerning our activity in this region we still do not have a definitive connection for our trail systems located in the Stratton Eustis area with the trail system in Kingfield. Landowner permission has been obtained to construct a trail between the two systems but would require the use of two miles of the Stratton Brook Road. From there it would follow the power line outside the preserve. This seems like a very reasonable request to us but has met some opposition. The economic impact study done on the ATV industry based on 2004/2005 numbers shows about two hundred and twenty million dollars annually generated. That was a good start and we have seen steady growth since. Another interesting point revealed in the report was the demographics of who ATVers are. The majorities are middle to upper middle class, college educated, and married with kids. We fall into the highest tax bracket in the state in fact the highest in the country yet we struggle to gain access to the public lands that we are paying for. It has become very apparent to many of us that it is much easier to gain access to private land than it is to gain access to our own public lands. This is absolutely absurd and we are going to change this starting now.
We need this short section of trail on the Stratton Brook Road to make our connection and feel we are entitled to either it or a reasonable alternative before this management plan is completed. We ask that not only is the connection of the two trail systems resolved before the plan is called complete, we also want this connection spelled out in the plan so that there are no questions five or ten years from now about its disposition.
The volunteer efforts put forth by the ATV community to make ATVing a family sport and a growing industry for the State of Maine is nearly unprecedented. We have created some very strong laws that pushed the nonconformist to pursue other activities. With that accomplished, when a trail is well built and well marked the riders stay on it with very few exceptions. We have built healthy relationships with thousands of landowners all across the state, which benefits all outdoor enthusiasts. Now we will work to make provisions for our activity on many of our public lands, we will not be discouraged and we will not go away.
Daniel M. Mitchell
Executive Director
ATV Maine
Don next brought up the Sportsman Show in Wilton, March 23 - 25, 2007. The following people volunteered to work the show.
March 23rd - starting at 1:00pm Pete will open and Bob D. will relieve him later in the day, March 24th - Phil will open at 9:00am and Marshall will relieve him, March 25th - Dick and Don will work the show. The Augusta Show is the weekend after this and we will have displays at the FABA booth.
| Vice President's Notes |
Sandy suggested a giveaway for the Wilton Show. It was decided a 2-night stay at the White Wolf and a free membership to our club would be raffled. The tickets will be a dollar each or 6 for five dollars. A motion was made and passed to do this. We will also be selling trail maps, hats and tee shirts.
| Treasurer's Report |
Bob told us that we had to spend $35 for our annual report to be filed. He also gave us the balance of the clubs funding minus any expenditures we voted on today. It was motioned and passed to accept his report.
| Membership Chair's Report |
Ruthanne wanted to start by wishing Yvonne and Phil Hill a Happy 40th Wedding Anniversary. Memberships are starting to come in for the new season. All 2006 members will be receiving a letter to rejoin as soon as possible. Don will go and talk to all the Business Members about rejoining. Ruthanne also introduced our “Map Man” Tom LaPointe.
| Trail Master's Report |
After the February 11th meeting Dick talked to Brian Bronson about the Appalachian Trail crossings and set up a meeting with Bigelow Preserve manager Steve Swattling. On February 13th Dick, Steve and Don walked the power line and some woods roads on water district land. February 21st Dick talked to Brian about the walk and he talked with Steve and sent Dick an e-mail about their conversation. February 22nd Dick talked to Plum Creek and they will go with our request for a connection. February 23rd Dick met with SFT and they will go with the connection also. February 26th Dick talked with the Water District and they are also OK. February 27th Don, Ray, Phil and Dick went to the Bigelow meeting and Dick made a request for a connection trail to Carrabassett. Things are looking better for us. Dick is still having meetings with landowners. Only a couple of months to go and we will be riding again. We only need two landowner permits renewed this year.
| New Business |
It was brought up that we should ask the town for money to support the ATV club (similar to what the snowmobile club recently did). Don has discussed this with others and feels that we don't really need the money right now our club is pretty self-supportive. A discussion was aggressively pursued by members present and it was decided that Don will go to the town and find out how many ATV's registered and what the town gets back from registration and what they are doing with that money. Don will report what he finds out at the next meeting and we will revisit the conversation. We should encourage our members to register in our town to help the club. A motion was made and passed to table the issue until the next meeting.
The subject of a Mud-Run was brought up again. Sandy is talking to some people that could organize this. The big issue is insurance. Don will make a call about getting insurance through ATV Maine.
There were 17 members present
The meeting was adjourned at 11:20am