BCHC Mid Valley Unit President's Monthly Message

[Michael King, our president, with his best friend.]

Coming from a cattle background in relatively dry country, I am always happy to see rain, as scant rainfall = no grass = no cattle. I feel the same way in this area about snow, as it provides most of our irrigation and household water supplies. Within reason, the more the better! One source I found indicated that the 2010 snowfall was 107% of normal. Not a banner event, but pretty good, and way better than the 80% last year. This year it was not necessarily the amount of snow, but rather the timing of it that became an issue. Late season storms kept rolling in, dropping more and more snow in the Sierra. With the protracted winter conditions, the snow melt was delayed and thus everything dependent upon the melt was also held up. Not that I am complaining mind you, just an observation.

In any event, spring finally arrived. From what I hear, the back country is now pretty much open and getting better by the day. Our own Mid Valley Spring General Meeting (GM) was delayed for a couple of weeks by lingering snow, but that did not seem to affect attendance. Approximately 40 people came to ride, work and socialize a bit. The weather was perfect and everyone was smiling, happy to be out in the mountains among like-minded people. Special thanks to Spring GM Chairman Don Butler, who organized this event and very generously donated the steaks for the potluck meal center piece. They were delicious. When you see Don, please be sure to personally thank him for his great generosity.

Hot off the press is the recently updated and expanded Mid Valley Unit Membership Handbook. This handbook is chock full of useful information ranging from planning a pack trip to examples on how to write a legislator. Other useful information that is included are: basic parliamentary procedure rules, BCHC and Mid Valley Unit By-Laws, an up to date membership roster and an interesting "History of the Backcountry Horsemen". Distribution of the handbook to the membership started with personal handouts at the General Meeting. With a mailing expense of nearly $3.00 per handbook, every effort is being made to distribute them in person whenever possible. If you receive a call from a Mid Valley member telling you that they have yours, please respond to them right away. Money saved by not having to mail becomes available for other activities/projects. A special thank you goes out to Carol Jo Hargreaves who carefully updated this handbook. It is a very time consuming project and we all thank her very much for her effort.

As summer kicks into high gear, so does the activity level of the Mid Valley Unit. Soon the long awaited Phase 3 Crabtree Road improvement project will get underway. This phase will see the grading and gravel resurfacing of 1.7 miles of the Crabtree Road from the end on the asphalt pavement to the Crabtree Junction. The work will be paid for with a $50,000 Resource Advisory Committee (RAC) grant received by our Unit last year.

In March 2010, the Mid Valley Unit Board of Directors reviewed the road resurfacing project as a whole, and voted their continued support for Phase 4, which will complete the road resurfacing from the Crabtree Junction to Gianelli Cabin. With the endorsement and support of the Board, Donna Peterson and Rich Kirchner completed a $70,000 RAC grant application to pay for the final phase of the road work. They made their formal presentation of the grant application to the RAC Committee in Sonora on July 12, and it is now under their consideration. Donna and Rich, thank you for your continued and enthusiastic effort for this worthwhile project. When completed, this road resurfacing will make the access of trailheads, utilized by many of our members and the public at large, much easier with less wear and tear on the vehicles traveling over it.

July and August has an ambitious schedule of trail clearing projects. There is a trip in late July to Piute Meadow, and 4 work party trips scheduled for August. These include Snow Lake/Summit Meadow and Huckleberry Lake as well as 2 trips in support of the PCT crews. Planning for these trips is going on right now, and space is limited on each party. If you are interested in going along, check the events calendar and call the contact person listed right away.

Three years ago, the Mid Valley Unit took over the Columbia Christmas Parade from the "The Shady Ladies" group in Columbia. Bruce DeMott, organizer of the parade for Mid Valley since the Unit took it over, recently announced that this year would be his last. At the July Board meeting, organizing requirements of the parade and the continued commitment of Mid Valley were discussed. The Board reaffirmed that the parade was a worthy project. Not only does it provide a morning of wholesome family fun, parade attendees are encouraged to bring a toy to donate to children that might not otherwise receive something under their Christmas trees. The parade also gives Mid Valley a chance to promote a positive image as well as create awareness in people that might not have knowledge of Backcountry Horsemen. Some members have expressed an interest in helping to plan and organize the event in 2011. With the early notice by Bruce, the person (s) who steps forward to chair this event will have the opportunity to "learn how it is done". Contact a board member or me if you are interested in helping with this project.

Michael

(This is the current copy of the message our President writes every month for the newsletter.)