Ice Age Trail Alliance
Chippewa Moraine Chapter
Ice Age Trail Dispatch
March 2011
In This Edition:
Annual Conference - Hotel Deadline Is Upon Us!
March Chapter Meeting
Join the Mammoth Trackers!
Annual Membership Conference - Hotel Deadline is Monday, March 7
The Ice Age Trail Alliance is April 7 - 10 at Wausau this year. All the information can be found in the newest Mammoth Tales or on the IATA web site. Because this year's meeting is in Wausau, it is much more accessible to members from our chapter than in some other years, so please consider attending all or part of the event.
While there are lots of options for overnight accommodations, please note that several of the hotels have extended block rates for our group through Monday, March 7. After that date, they may not offer the preferential rate.
Your registration for the conference itself is due by March 25.
If you have not yet received your copy of Mammoth Tales in the mail, just check the web site for details.
March Chapter Meeting, Monday, March 21
Our chapter will meet on Monday, March 21 for our regular bi-monthly meeting at 6 PM at the Chippewa Falls Library. We'll be looking at our spring schedule of work activities and hikes.
At our last meeting in January, we elected officers and approved a budget for 2011. Officers will be Richard Smith, chair; Jerry Sazama, vice-chair; Diane Harp, Secretary; Nancy Schuster, Treasurer. We also developed a trail maintenance and construction project inventory to aid in future planning.
Reminder about the Mammoth Trackers e-List
As spring is approaching, it's a good time to be sure you've subscribed to the Chippewa Mammoth Trackers if you are interested in receiving notification of short-notice hikes.
We've set up the Chippewa Mammoth Trackers, a Yahoo group set up to post notifications of open hikes, predominantly on the Ice Age Trail, and more often than not in the Chippewa County area.
As the name says, members will be tracking the trail of the elusive and legendary mammoth. And where else would one find the mammoth, but on the Ice Age Trail?
If you're interested in tracking the mammoth, you can sign up for the group at Yahoo Groups. After you've signed up, you can set your preference for how you want email notifications to come: each time, daily, or never. In addition to learning about hikes, you can put together an informal hike yourself and post a notice to notify the others that they're invited.
You'll need to be a member of the MammothTracker group to read the messages, and membership is targeted to IATA members and supporters. Signing up for the group requires approval of the moderator. If you have suggestions on other protections we should follow, please let us know.
Our web site home page has a button way down in the lower right hand corner that you can click to join the group, or just click here: Chippewa Mammoth Trackers.
The Ice Age Trail, Stewardship, and the Wisconsin Budget
The newly-proposed Wisconsin State Budget (SB27) contains several provisions that will directly impact the Ice Age Trail and the IATA, as well as the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program, which is used to acquire land for trail expansion. Because the proposals are complex and only recently published, it will take some time for a thorough analysis. Many other proposals have received all the attention, but members interested in the future of the trail may wish to follow these impacts. We'll try to sort out some of these at our next chapter meeting.
Read This Newsletter In Your Browser
Where To Find Information
Here's where to look for IAT and IATA information:
IATA Information: http://iceagetrail.org/home
Chippewa Moraine Chapter Information: www.iatchippewa.org AND http://chippewamoraine.iceagetrail.org/home AND www.twitter.com/iatachippewa (subscribe!)
Calendar of Chapter and Alliance Events: http://chippewamoraine.iceagetrail.org/chapter-events
Chippewa Mammoth Trackers (informal hike announcements): http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MammothTracker
Hiking the trail: www.iceagetrail.org (check the options under the "Hike the IAT" tab). For Chippewa County: http://chippewamoraine.iceagetrail.org/hike-the-chapter
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