Ice Age Trail Dispatch
November 2009
In this edition:
Chapter Meeting, Monday Nov. 16
Regional Meeting, Saturday, Dec. 5, at Chippewa Moraine
Volunteer Hours Set New Highs
Visit Us At The Outdoor Expo
Chapter Meeting on Monday: 2010 Events Calendar, Bylaws, Award Nominations
Your ideas are wanted! At our next chapter meeting at 6 PM, Monday, Nov. 16, at the Chippewa Falls Public Library, we'll carefully review the events of 2009 and plan our events season for 2010. Everyone will get a chance to get into the act of discussing what they'd like to see us keep, drop, or add to our schedule.
Nominations will be considered for the annual In The Mud Award, which is awarded annually in each chapter. Bring your ideas!
We also need to clarify some gray areas in the Bylaws we adopted last November. These important tasks and more are on tap for the chapter meeting.
We'll Host A Regional Chapter Meeting on Saturday, Dec. 5
Our chapter will host the leaders and members from other chapters in the northwest at the next regional chapter meeting. We'll meet at 10 AM at the Chippewa Moraine Visitor Center. The schedule calls for a roll call of the chapters and their successes in 2009, discussion of areas of mutual interest, a potluck lunch at noon, finishing up our discussion after lunch, and finally an optional hike on the trail. As host chapter, we'll provide extra goodies and make sure everyone feels welcome. It's a great opportunity to attend one of these meetings. It's been many years since a regional chapter meeting was held in our territory, so take advantage of the opportunity to meet and hear from other chapter leaders from St Croix Falls to Stanley, and IATA staff, other agency staff, and special guests as well.
Volunteer Hours Set New Highs
Our last newsletter reminded you to submit your volunteer hours for the Nov 2008 - Oct 2009 fiscal year. Well, the results are in, and they are staggering!
IATA volunteer hours worked in 2009 totaled 58,225 (vs 42,288 in 2008). There were 2281 volunteers recorded.
Chippewa Moraine chapter hours worked in 2009 totaled 1,292 (vs 1,252 in 2008). There were 60 volunteers recorded.
Did you know that for purposes of matching dollars, our volunteer work is considered to be worth around $16, thus pulling a similar amount of funding for the IAT?
If all the volunteers got onto the trail at once, there'd be one every half mile.
Your volunteer time accumulates, and eventually is rewarded by the National Park Service with a variety of thank-you awards, including bottles, hats, and jackets, and 1 year passes to all national parks.
You helped put the IATA on the map, but most importantly, you helped build the trail, maintain the trail, and enable others to learn about or enjoy the trail.
Thank you.
Visit Us At The Outdoor Expo
Visit us at the Ice Age Trail Alliance booth at the Outdoor Adventure Expo in Minneapolis on Friday-Sunday, November 20-22. It's our twice-a-year visit to tell the outdoors crowd in the Twin Cities area about the IAT. This year we plan to amaze them with the fearsome tools real live trail-builders actually use, so if you see someone wielding a McLeod, a pick-mattock, a rock bar, a sling tool, duff buckets, or loppers, you'll know you've come to the right place. If you don't know what these are, we need to talk! Our chapter is on duty on Sunday. Our friends from Indianhead and Superior Lobe are there on Friday and Saturday. Want to help? Let us know.
Where To Find Information
Here's where to look for IAT and IATA information:
IATA Information in General: www.iceagetrail.org
Chippewa Moraine Chapter Information: www.iatchippewa.org AND www.iceagetrail.org/ChippewaMoraine/index.htm AND www.twitter.com/iatachippewa (subscribe!)
Calendar of Chapter and Alliance Events: www.iceagetrail.org/ChippewaMoraine/calendar.htm
Hiking the trail: www.iceagetrail.org (check the options under the "Hike the IAT" tab)
National Park Service Information about the Ice Age Trail: www.nps.gov/iatr/index.htm
See you on the trail,
Richard Smith
Chippewa Moraine Chapter Chair
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The Ice Age Trail
A Walk Through Time