Meeting Notes, Regular meeting, April 24, 2001

Note - These are not the official minutes - just an informal summary.

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Steve Randall, Reports Chair, reminded us to keep track of all our time and mileage for work groups, public meetings, and educational work. Look for a spreadsheet on our web site for tracking your hours.

City of San Diego will hold a Trails Conference, in partnership with the International Mountain Biking Association (IMBA) and the San Diego Mountain Biking Association, Monday, April 30, 2001. Arlene, Don, Kandhy, and Linda will be attending, and will write up a summary.

Darrah may be in town and available for a whole-day workshop on How To Teach Gentle Use Practices in May or early June. Nola and Linda, and possibly Tauri and Kandhy, are interested in attending. Anyone else?

There are many parades coming up in the next few months. We discussed that flashy costumes are not consistent with BCHC, but maybe we could "dress up as" a trail maintenance crew, with pack animals, buck saws in scabbards, etc. As always, contact Sharon Haynesworth (619 279-8518), our Parade Chair, if you are interested in participating in parades, or supporting others (haul, groom, etc.).

Backcountry 101, will be held June 23-24, 2001, at the Granny Martin Museum (off Japatul Road, just south of I-8).
- We can allow the public (non-BCHC-members) to attend, even though we have stock present, as long as we have a barrier between the public and the animals.
- Flyers, reservation forms, and raffle tickets were all available and passed out at the meeting. They are also available on the web site.
- East County Feed is donating hay for the cattle at Granny Martin's during Backcountry 101.
- Instead of buying oak firewood (as previously agreed), we will be volunteering our time for a workparty to help out at Granny Martin's. Date to be arranged.

Our unit will be sending a letter in support of keeping Ranger Paul Kucharczyk at Goodan Ranch. Paul has worked closely with equestrian groups to create and improve trails and staging areas. The letter will be sent to Susan Hector, Director of County Parks, and Corey Lender, who works with Susan.

Survey Road 55 is before the County Board of Supervisors now. This road is the boundary between the Marine Corps' property and County land between the Goodan Ranch area in Poway, and Santee Lakes, via the site of the old town of Stowe. It comes into Santee by Mission Trails Regional Park (MTRP), and could be a trail link between the two communities. The County wants permission for the public to use this road, and is looking into its legal status as a public road right-of-way.

The San Diego County Trails Council (SDCTC) has a new 24 hour voice mail #: 619 446-2614

State Parks are working with mountain bikers to survey trails in Cuyamaca to look at where it might be appropriate to allow mountain bikes. Trails under consideration include the West Side Trail, Harvey Moore Trail, Harper Creek Trail, and Dyer Spring Trail. Susie Kirkword and Ron Ketzenhauer are the equestrian reps on the group. Bicycles are currently not allowed on these trails.

An e-mail message from Jennifer Foster was passed around containing a plea to not divulge the location of riding trails to anyone from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). She cited past cases where equestrians were asked for, and gave, the locations of places they regularly ride. These trails were subsequently closed to horses.

Tauri - T-shirts from T-Shirt Wholesale Mart in El Cajon can be printed very reasonably. Color set-up is $35.00.