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San Juan Island Trails Committee Minutes May 14, 2008 Goal: 3 – 5 miles of new trails per year Trails in process this year: 6.5 miles (Roche Harbor) .17 mi CPRT
1. Call to Order/Introductions by Don Jarrell at 5:05 pm Motion to approve last month’s minutes/approved 2. Members Present: Eileen Drath, Chuck Rust, Rick Exstrom, Mike Buettell, Sue Buettell, Sam Connery, Louise Dustrude, Peter Dederich, Alice Hurd, Eleanor Hartman, David Dehlendorf, Don Jarrell, Kyle Davies, Harry Dickinson, Steve Ulyi, Chris Wolf, Glen Garrett, Mark Pierce, Cinda Pierce, Howie Rosenfeld 3. Discussion Items 1. Peter Dederich, Superintendent of the San Juan Island NHP Mitchell Hill: Park Gen Mgt Plan is a long 20-year process. Public commented and 100% support for Mitchell Hill to be part of English camp. Moving forward on mechanics. National Conservation Fund (Arlington, VA) will help with project. Mark Elsbree from NCF hiked area. Are writing responses to public projects to GNP. Final part of plan approved. Trail Connections American/English Camp: We have $25,000 challenge money this year which will be used for both projects. May be able to get more money next year for both of them and thus will use this year’s money for both of the parks this year. Will work with land owner near English Camp. At American Camp, the trail will go through the corner of American camp and through Land Bank property. Aerial view shared. Trying to get as close to the old military road as possible. Looking for volunteers to rough out both of the trails-preliminary-this summer. Need to nail down cooperative agreements to use funding we have. Big National Parks share entrance fee money with smaller parks and if money next year does not come through it should come through the following year. We are to match money with labor, planning volunteer hours. 2. Bicycle news: Tracy Roberson’s email was distributed 3. Volunteer hours: Be sure to record all volunteer hours on work parties, etc. 4. Presentation to County Park David and Don gave a presentation to the County Park Board. Items of interest were discussed and clarified. Shared budgetary activities from Island Rec. Kyle, from County Parks, reported that there was great reception and welcome for the Trails report. He would like to be on the June general Trails meeting agenda. 5. Town/County Council Joint meeting April 22 Don Jarrell and David Dehlendorf attended and “Trails” impressed the Councils with our interest, presence and dedication to the concept of the Pipeline Trail. Many Trails Committee members present. Still in process and we are hoping the trail will be part of the RFP. Chris Wolf, from the Council, reported that there is interest and support and the trail is “on the agenda.” Easements are needed along the pipeline route. We are still a year out from beginning the process. 6. National Trails Day June 7 Alice At the last meeting, a date was discussed when people from Orcas Pathways (their “trails” committee) would come here for a joint hike after our going there last year. Do not yet have a date. Traditionally, the Trails Committee has had a booth at the SJ County Fair (August 13 – 16) shared with County Parks and the National Park, and last year Kyle Davies stepped up. We need a front person to put this together; Robin Donnelly will be approached. We have an active Steering Committee including Chair, Vice Chair, secretary, treasurer and all need to be filled for next year. 7. Island Rec article Thank you to Susie Dehlendorf who wrote the article in the latest Island Rec newsletter. We should think about adding the article to our website. 8. Sign up sheet for Land Bank preserve on June 7 on West Side Preserve distributed. Want to suppress some of the “people made” trails and create some new trails. Fourteen sign-ups were gathered. 9. CPRT (Cattle Point Road Trail) progress We have comments back from Land Bank and are set to go. We need to make corrections and put it with easement application for the trail and move forward. 10. Scenic Byways Don and Ann Jarrell attended a reception and tour and he reports it has been a positive and interesting process. Non-islanders and islanders were on the tour to review interpretive signage and its effectiveness. High potential for additional funds for preservation and for non-motorized use. They have seed $ of 25,000 into an RFP and we gave input and will be part of the plan.
11. Bicycle Corner Tracy Roberson, in absentia, provided handouts regarding bicycle plans. 12. Update on Roche Harbor Harry Dickenson reported: Shared pictures of Roche Harbor work. Four work parties this past month completed 340 feet of raised plank walkways from the lumber from the replaced docks at Roche Harbor. The wetlands loop area saw most of the added walkways enabling people to stay dry all the way to the viewing area. On the area across Roche Harbor Road, by the pump station, the little walking area was also planked. There was also 125 feet of plank added along the Roche Harbor Road trail. Phil Schober headed up this project. Also, the previous month, hiking trails were completed throughout the area. Twenty-four poster-sized trail maps are being printed and will be posted throughout the area. Two trails cross creeks and bridges were made from the dock lumber. Steve created the railing for the bridge. A 40-foot gangway from the Roche Harbor docks was installed across the ravine along Rouleau Road enabling a continuous walking area. The trail plan has been modified since the original plan. Source found which saved us on the signage and enabled the production of the larger posters. Brent Snow given a budget update which reported $6500 has been spent with $3500 left in the budget. Roche Harbor wanted a way for their guests to get to English Camp without walking on Roche Harbor Road. A goal was to get people off Roche Harbor Road all year and now the walkways have solved the problem except for the area by the airport. That is the next priority to make the area accessible year round. The last piece is the connection to English Camp. The trail along Rouleau road will be for horses and bikes so that area will be moved as well. Roche Harbor will be hosting a Frisbee Golf Tournament in the fall as the inaugural event to welcome the community to the facility. Thank you to all the volunteers. 13. Sept 17 Transportation Summit, 10 am – 5 pm. At the Fairgrounds 14. Library is once again putting up an activity calendar on line 15. Suggestion to put together a trails manual/booklet available for sale, discussed kiosk information. 16. Adjournment at 6:37 Volunteer Hours Reported Eileen Drath 4 in Rick Extrom 14 out Mike Buettell 10 out Alice Hurd 4 in Don Jarrell 10 out 35 in Harry Dickenson 50 out 6 in Mark Pierce 1 in Cinda Pierce 2 in Sue Buettell 1 out 1 in Tracy Roberson 14 in Meeting on 5/14 = 20 people x 1.5 hours = 30 hours in Minutes submitted by Sue Buettell |
