Quick Hits

Did I mention if you submit an article to the newsletter and it gets used we send you $25? A trip report, a position statement, something like that? Unfortunately, the April issue may be rather one-sided, but hopefully next quarter we'll get some real variety.
That said, I HOPE to get the issue out the door the second week of April, with the other two items close behind.

• One of my goals is for each club to have it's own public relations box full of brochures, economic assessments, pr packets, newsletters, magnets, stickers, etc. If you've ever seen the layout at one of the Essex or Bloomsburg shows, that's the idea. So when a club is doing an event, any event, they can have this readily available to show interested parties. In two weeks I'll be heading down to the Association meeting in PA and will press the need for more informational tools to hand out to our members and legislators. There's a wealth of knowledge on tap and we just need to turn the faucet on.

$25 per used article. Twenty five.

• COY HILL CLEANUP scheduled for May 10th. If you're interested, go HERE. If you're not, disregard. Regardless of the reason, a group of volunteers are organized to go in there and clean up the area. It's not about future access but about the damaged image our sport has taken. We all hope it helps, but remember to support the group even if you don't support the event itself. They're doing it for all of us and I thank them.

• The agenda for the April meeting will be out this week. REMEMBER IT'S STILL AT GOLFQUEST, at least for this month. We should be moving the meetings this summer to a place in Danbury if all goes as planned.

• As stated previously, the bus to Dubois was too expensive, but we're looking at renting a small van for carpooling purposes. More posted once the numbers come back.

• If you haven't scheduled a Land Use seminar with Dave yet, I encourage you to do so. It's very informative and actually interesting.

Well that's pretty much it. April is exceedingly busy for me, so once again if I don't get back to you on something, keep buggin' me. ($25 an article).

Listen, lather, rinse, repeat...

• Raffle Jeep tickets should be around soon.
  
• EC4WDA Northeast Region and Adirondack Jeeps are being featured in a political gazette in May, targeting NY's representatives.
• Aili at CTJEEP.ORG has shown me the light regarding some ideas on motorized recreation partnerships. Her work with the ATV'ers in CT is showing extreme promise. And she's working on tweaking the colors of the logo because I'm colorblind!
  
• Mike B. with NTC continues his tireless efforts in MA regarding Land Use and beginning the steps to build relationships with other land interests.
  
• Dave at E4W is extremely busy. So busy his posts are getting shorter I think!!! (by the way, check out their new website!)
• Stacey S. from E4W will have our membership books and stickers out very soon.
  
• UJ, CCJC, OSJ, and JT4x4 are busy getting the entire Region trail information all over the northeast. With gas prices approaching "insane", my hats off to all the clubs doing the scouting. 100% work with 20% return, but it benefits us ALL.
• Dan S. with CCJC is working on the "Trailfest" flyer and it looks great!
  
• Don R. with with HV4W is doing some important legwork pertaining to some trails in NY.
• Mike C. with B4W, as busy as this guy is these days, is working on our joint EC/NEA booth at Vermonster. We'll be showing the "gentle" side of wheeling surrounded by mud drags and monster trucks!
  
• Bob R. at LIOR continues to work out the bugs and tweaks of our new forum and getting us an easier to navigate website.
• I'm still working on the Economic Assessment, 4x4 What's the Score, our newsletter (send articles, pics, and trail reports to me if you have 'em), and more.

Coming April 7th (I hope)!

Winter's blues almost over

What club hasn't seen a little turmoil this winter? Shake ups and shake downs.
I've seen it first hand over and over; during the winter, when trail rides slow down and clubs start to stagnate a little, the focus on club activities turn toward what to do to keep interest levels high. Without the prospect of a trail ride, members sometimes look toward the officers to keep things together while officers may think the members need time to relax.

It's terribly difficult at times. Club officers can be looked at as being too involved and controlling or not involved enough and not caring. Either way it can eat at the identity of the organization.

So what can you do as a member or as a club officer? Listen to each other.

Members, if your club isn't giving you what you want, listen to what it IS giving you. Seriously, sit down for 5 minutes with a pen and paper and write down all that is good AND bad with the club you're involved in. Think about how you fit into each of those items you just wrote down and how you could help in each. If you find something you love about it and want to see more of it, write it down! Something just not working for you and you have an idea? Write it down! Then send it off to your president. How can he know what's he's doing right or wrong? If members are silent, he's doing something right. But really, how does he know? If he's doing something wrong, he'll surely know though. Be tactful, too. It's easier to get an answer and an ally if the person you're directing your critique to isn't on the defense.
Remember that just because you want it, doesn't mean the entire club wants the same thing.
Also, if you're content with the way things are and just wanna wheel, that's great too! Send a note saying "Hey, I like the club. Keep up the good work." That's helping right there.

Officers, if your members (and even the other officers) aren't giving you what you want, listen to what they want from you. It's scary, but ask. Make a call to one or two or all. PM/email a few and ask for opinions on stuff. You may not agree, but if a majority of the club is asking for something, and it's an easy thing to do, seriously consider it. Pick your battles, stand firm in your decisions, BUT realize that the more information you get the more you can consider the situation. Some can call it flip-flopping, but if 2 people tell you something won't work and you agree only to find weeks later 30 people say it does work, it's called making an educated decision.
Keep the members up to date, hand out tasks you and your members would like done, and listen to the feedback from the membership.
It's certainly not a glorious position, and history tells us the chances of club elections being "hotly contested" are few and far between, but as you create a feeling of "ownership" within the club, more members will become owners.

I'd like to see all the EC4WDA Northeast Region presidents and/or reps do the same. Sit down and fire an email off to me with a little feedback. Let me have it; the good and bad. I may not get back to you right away (or I'll just delete your email LOL) and this is the busiest I've been in months, but drop me a line.

Spring is almost here. We've got trails to cut, areas that need signage put up (yup, we've got signs for ya'll!), and of course, politicians to bother!

Now is the time to pull together and get things rolling!

What about private land?

I try not to delve into Land Use at all (Dave covers it quite enough) , but today I will a little.

We're seeing alot of groups ready to get out scouting for new trails and roads this spring, but let's not forget our private property land owners!
When your club goes out looking at a road or one you may have found on a map, remember to look around the area for posted signs away from the road. Many times, these signs (should) have contact information on the owner. Head back to your computer and see if the town or county has a GIS site and try to find the acreage and, in some cases, more info on the property owner. Contact your club president or land use guy and let him know what's up, and spread the word that you may have a property worth contacting. If it's not already a part of our database, go ahead make the move! It's a difficult call to make, like cold calling sales, but the worst thing to happen is they slam the phone down. The best thing? Well, there are ALOT of good things that can happen. If you don't feel comfortable making the initial contact, let someone in on it. We'll certainly help you because it'll definitely help us. Plus, many clubs give free membership for the time the landowner allows the club access!
So get out there and check out the trails, but remember to check the posted signs!

I had thought a great way to promote attendance at our Association meeting in November would be to charter a bus. Well, it's a tad cost prohibitive, so we'll be looking at other ways to make the trip a little more enticing.

This Saturday, March 15th we'll be in Worcester, MA for a second "summit" meeting between your elected reps of EC4WDA-D and the NEA4WDA. Some items we'll hit are NETMaP tweaks, Coy Hill, Ma Bell, some private land issues, signs on the trails, and advertising/PR campaigns.

There's more, but gotta run for now.

Nothing is so bad you give up everything...

If we are facing in the right direction, all we have to do is keep on walking.
~Buddhist Saying

Sometimes something happens and you realize just how trivial our priorities can be. I'll be back next week. Til then, get your newsletter articles to me at adktj@adirondackjeeps.com