From Dubois PA

This weekend is the Association meeting in Dubois. There's plenty for us to do, and I hope to come back with a few things to help our region even more. First, the newsletter...

The April (2nd quarter) newsletter is printed and ready to go. We were looking to have it mailed to each member, but after seeing the cost of postage and the lack of timely advertisers, I've decided to hand out individual newsletters at the Region meeting next week and let the club delegates distribute them. Also, the newsletter in pdf format will be available for download next week direct from the region website. We did have two advertisers interested right away, but missed the deadline by a week. Since it was sent to the printer, we've heard from 4 more interested businesses which makes our July issue practically paid for!

Vermonster is fast approaching, so PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD! Randy needs our support and as a MAJOR sponsor of our Trailfest 08, we should do just that. Visit the website for more information: http://www.vermonster4x4.com/

As I said earlier, this weekend I'll be trying to get more EC4WDA publications into the hands of the clubs and also trying to get more funds for our Region to advertise more. More on that next week (if it happens at all).

At the meeting, each Region will be giving our report. The Northeast Region report follows (basically a recap of the last few months);

April 2008

The Northeast Region is in overdrive and the upheaval is noticeable. Since taking the helm a few short months ago, we’ve pushed the gas pedal to the floor and seen unbelievable returns in the process!

Immediately after my election to Chairman we began the process of increasing public awareness of our organization, our clubs, and our members. The first item we addressed was the need to create a more recognizable “brand”. It was determined that, because the general public will never understand what “Region D” means, we altered our name and Region logo to “East Coast 4 Wheel Drive Association Northeast Region (D)”. This change brings to focus our area of operation and creates an image easily identifiable to the public and legislators alike. Each club was then asked to add EC4WDA specific meta-tags to their websites to increase the amount of search engine “hits”, bringing EC4WDA to the top of sites such as Yahoo and Google. As well as internal changes, cosmetic changes will be researched also, such as adding EC4WDA to each individual club logo if possible. The goal of this effort is to help pull together each club into a recognizable national organization.

The second major initiative we’ve pushed for is opening better lines of communication with the other major association in the Northeast, the North East Association of 4 Wheel Drive Clubs (NEA4WDC). Together with the key players of the NEA, we’ve created NETMaP; the NorthEast Trails Management Plan. Under this plan, all public roads currently being utilized in support of our recreation are “adopted” by member clubs of each organization. As stewards of these trails, clubs can report on environmental problem areas, publicity items, and scheduling conflicts. These clubs become our first line of defense in dealing with issues that often occur and may need immediate attention. Volunteer work groups can then be called to action quicker and organized better. Currently, this is in a trial phase using only two trails, but recent events have shown the plan can work and will most likely be adopted Region-wide. We’ve also tentatively agreed to place strategic public advertisements in local papers to increase awareness of our organizations and our responsibilities to keep our trails open and maintained.

The success of NETMaP depends on the third initiative of our Region; club scheduling. In the past we’ve had numerous clubs posting schedules in a number of areas and not always including the trail name and/or location. This year that changed with the adoption of our Trail Schedule Matrix. With each club doing an outstanding job of stepping up and submitting their schedules, Chris Ryan of Underground Jeeps compiled the information into an easy to read table showing what club will be where and when. This information is an invaluable tool when identifying over-used trails or other problem areas, such as illegal activity. Illegal activity such as trespassing has been given a “no-tolerance” label with each club ready to identify and “police our own.” Members and non-members alike now know both Associations will be watch dogs for the trails.

Communication is the key to a successful organization, and as such we’ve also taken steps to foster a more open dialogue with our members and supporters. Early this year, I began a weekly web-log, or Blog, that keeps our membership up to date on Region activities. From tips on leadership skills to organizing trail cleanups, up-to-the-minute event news to individual member accolades, I try to keep the members informed and involved. Shortly after, the Land Use Blog was also created for Dave Brill to bring up-to-the-minute news on trail closures and land use issues. Both have been enthusiastically received throughout the clubs. You can find those by visiting www.ec4wda.org/regiond .

Our first newsletter in years is currently at the printers and should be distributed throughout the entire Region membership by the time you read this. As we all know, getting newsletter items submitted by members can sometimes be difficult, so to attract more input our Region now offers $25 per submitted article/trail report to each member. Although only one article may be used at a time, with four newsletters a year each member has the potential to earn $100 during the course of the year! Newsletter ads help fray the costs of printing, but it will also be available for download if members wish to opt out of the mailing.

As you may know, our largest event of the year, the Essex Junction Jamboree, has been cancelled. Unfortunately a high volume of raffle Jeep ticket sales occur during this event so our efforts are now focusing on other events. One event we’re going to be involved in is Vermonster, and Mike Chapline of Berkshire 4 Wheelers has stepped up to lead our volunteer group in this new endeavor.

Our premier event of the year, On the Rocks, is now once again returning to the northeast in August as Trailfest. Organizing is underway to make that bigger and better than ever before.

With all the accomplishments we’ve done, and with the plans in place to accomplish much more, we haven’t forgotten the most important aspect of our organization; the members. We have welcomed three new clubs into the Region (Underground Jeeps, Cape Cod Jeep Club, and Ocean State Jeepsters) and hundreds of new members in the past few months. Already their involvement, particularly Dan Stepnik, John Songy, and Chris Paul, have shown our Region to be stronger and more capable than ever before. The efforts of Aili McKeen in CT legislation continue to stand out. Her work and experience working with other user groups such as ATV’s continue to show that different trail groups can and should work together when possible. Mike Belben continues to spearhead legislative action in MA, and Dave Brill’s work for our Region and the Association sustains the high standards we now almost take for granted. I’d also like to take a moment to thank some very important people to the Region; people I may have taken for granted before becoming Chairman of Northeast Region (D). Scott Brown, Joan Blair, and Bob Blair all deserve a loud, public thank you for their work for the Region.

It’s an incredibly exciting time to be a part of East Coast 4 Wheel Drive Association, and it’s only looking to get better.