January Volunteer Summit & Dinner

[DRaider90]

This has been in the works for a little while, and I figured we need to get the ball rolling on this. We will be doing a group dinner/summit setup during January. To my current knowledge I am not aware of a work day during January for this to conflict with. The general idea will be to get the Volunteers together from all the different clubs and discuss our plans for 2011. Things like the possible rock garden, the new trail, concerns about different areas, the summer heavy work weekend, etc will be discussed. So we can all get on the same page about what is going on in 2011.

The Forest Service may or may not be apart of this. This is more geared to the Volunteers getting our own plans together so we can present ideas and other concerns to the FS before the trails open in April. I have been talking it over with Chris and a few others, and we have narrowed down the location of the summit/dinner to a couple spots. Hopefully we can get a good turn out for this from all the clubs and people here on NC4X4.

 

[BRUISER]

my .02 is this is worthless with out them being part of this..

we can come up with all the plans we want but if they are not part of this to help discuss the items they will never get done and we will all be dreaming they will.

I suggest you sit down with the rangers before the meeting you are planning and get a feel or idea of what they want to get done in 2011.. and would also be good if you came with ideas for them. see what they are thinking then schedule a meeting with all volunteers and the rangers together to finalize the plans so you can lay out a schedule for next years workdays so we could achieve all the items on the list.

if we let them manage this 100%, then stuff will never get done.. the rangers in charge of workdays are terrible and do not respond until last minute.

so if you want to actually see improvements stop asking everyone on here what we should do or have meet and greets and make stickers.. go sit down with them and act like you are a business.. I mean you can use things like we need to work together and I can bring in 20 people or more on a workday from different 4x4 clubs and we can accomplish these items on a workday.

 

[DRaider90]

Let me rephrase that. Unless something drastic happens, the Forest Service won't be apart of the Volunteer Summit/Dinner. This event is an opportunity for the Volunteers to voice their opinions/concerns/ideas without any repercussions etc. The presence of the FS would dampen the open and honest atmosphere we are going for. Because I know the discussion won't be all praise and happyness for the Forest Service. There are people out there with legitimate concerns that may not want to voice them with Rangers sitting right there. Beyond that the Forest Service is on limited on staffing in January, and I don't see them attending if we wanted them to.

This is beyond the fact that discussions with the FS about 2011 have been on going since Summer. Every workday part of the time at the Hunt Camp is Q&A. Besides the other communications I have on other trips out there, emails, phone calls etc. For example the Heavy Work Weekend we will be having in 2011 was a direct result of Q&A time at the Hunt Camp during one of the work days. Its amazing the wealth of information that is shared at the Hunt Camp. Those that don't attend work days miss out on it.

The work load for the work days isn't planned out in advance. Its decided as we get Trail Inventory done and depending on what materials are available and what time of year it is. Even the heavy work weekend doesn't have specifics worked out yet. We will do work that weekend based on trail inventory that gets done between now and then.

I come here for opinions trying to get people that don't/can't make it to the workdays. As far as Meet N' Greets go, don't recall organizing any on here. Then you have the stickers, which are so people can take pride in what they are doing. And at the same time raise awareness about the work days/volunteer effort. If you don't like them/see the merit in them there isn't much I can about that.

If people want to come out for a great dinner, time to socialize, and then get your voice heard about what we will be doing in 2011 plan on attending the January Volunteer Summit/Dinner. If you want to talk to the Forest Service about what we discuss at the summit/dinner etc you are more than welcome to at one of the upcoming work days, or the pre-opening weekend event (Or on your own accord via email,phone, etc).

 

[Your Hot Dog Guy!]

Extremely well put Eli. I have attended every work day since the opening of the season and have a understanding and knowledge as to why and how things are done. The Forest Rangers are people just like us and have a respect and passion for the land they take care of for us, or they wouldn't be there! In many ways they get frustrated as we do and want things to move a little faster, but this a small chunk of land in the big picture of forest's in our nation.
The small force of volunteers has surprised and impressed the URE forest rangers many time over! Thanks again for what they do for all of us!