TRĀL MONTHLY MEETING

October 13, 2010

In Attendance: Allen Cross, David Gronlund, Barb Hill, Randy Hill, Amy Racki, Rich Smith, Kevin Thompson, Kirk McLarty, Matt Scoutten, Steve Hill, Tim Huber, Danica Moore, John Juliano, Drew Vusovic, Art Wirtz

The meeting was called to order at 7:06 PM by Rich Smith.

Area Updates

Mesquite – Dave reported that Mesquite looks good - status quo from the last meeting.

Bulldog East & West – There was no representation for an update for the Bulldog area.

Freeman Cooley reported last month that the 4 Peaks alternate parking area had been laced with nails.  After the meeting, Allen and several volunteers from TRAL and Copper State 4WD club mobilized and swept the area with roller magnets, picking up a 5 gallon bucket worth of nails. 

Forest Service Update

The Travel Management Plan continues moving towards Draft Final, but may be delayed.  The next step in the process is the Environmental Assessment.  The plan will be released for public comment in January for 30 days, followed by a possible revision period by the Forest Service, then will be open for a 45 day appeal period, and finally another 45 day period for the Forest to respond to any appeals.  It may be next fall before the plan is finalized.

Saturday, October 16^th is the Volunteer Open House at the Mesa District office from 10:00 AM to noon.  The Forest Service uses this opportunity to recruit new volunteers for their various programs, and has offered us the same opportunity.  Rich will represent TRĀL at the Open House event.

Beeline construction continues, and access to Mesquite is blocked off Monday thru Friday until around December 10^th.

Hwy 88 (Apache Trail) will be closed from Fish Creek to just past the ADOT yard for bridge repairs.  The roadway will be closed starting the first week of November and will last until repairs are made, which could be until January.

Amy reported that all TRĀL volunteers will need to sign new Volunteer Forms in the new year.  She will let us know when.

Needle Rock is closed until January for road resurfacing and the installation of toilets.

Acacia will close November 20^th to the 25^th for resurfacing of the parking area.

Amy introduced Geoffrey Hossack, the new Game and Fish OHV Law Enforcement officer.  Geoffrey will be based out of Globe and will assist the Mesa District with enforcement in the Tonto.

Amy let the group know that on September 19^th, a mountain lion was spotted in the Usery Mountain Park area.

Open Discussion

Art presented Tim Huber with a plaque thanking him for his efforts in coordinating the annual Four Peaks clean-up.

Art presented Rich with a plaque for the Forest Service Mesa District Volunteer of the Year award.

Art presented Rich with a plaque that recognized TRAL for their efforts in helping with the Travel Management Plan.

There was a brief discussion about areas that needed to be tightened up, like volunteer items that haven’t been completed.  For example, there are pending items that were never followed up on and were subsequently dropped from the agenda with the assumption that they had been completed.  It was decided that these outstanding items will remain on the agenda each month, along with a status update, until they are completed.

Rich completed the Yamaha Grant and sent that off.  The deadline for a decision by Yamaha is November 5^th, so we hope to hear something in the next few weeks.  If we get the grant, we will be able to put together nice pamphlets that show some of the riding areas, tout safety, and highlights the rules and regulations for OHV use in the Tonto.

TRAL is losing a great volunteer and the organizations ATV representative.  Brian Smith is leaving to move to Washington State.  TRAL will be in search of a new ATV representative moving forward.  Good luck Brian!  You will certainly be missed.

TRAL has a new area on their web site for volunteers to sign up for events.  We encourage everyone to please visit the site and check out some of our exciting upcoming events.

Art let the group know that we may be able to use the old District office in Sunflower, or the look-out station on Mt. Ord for TRAL events.  Several ideas were thrown around for consideration, like recognition events, meetings, training sessions, and cook-outs.  The group will discuss further, but it sounds like a great opportunity being afforded TRAL.

TRAL will be piloting a Volunteer Patrol starting late December into the 1^st quarter of 2011.  The idea is to educate OHV users on the rules and regulations, and to pass the safety word on to the public.  The pilot will be used to gather feedback and make improvements before full scale implementation in early 2011.  

With no other business to address, the meeting was adjourned at 8:50 PM

ACTION ITEM LIST:

For example, Andy was going to look at some statistical analysis tools we could use to decipher hits on our web site; Don and Stacy were going to post signs to warn of the closure at Mesquite, Chari was to get with various 4WD retailers to see if they would help support TRAL, DAVE was going to talk to a motorcycle retailer on the same item, Bret and Allen were going to access Bulldog, etc.