Cayuga Trails Newsletter of the Cayuga Trails Club Founded in 1962 “…to explore, enjoy and preserve wild lands and places of natural beauty…” January-February 2016 Late Winter Edition Volume 56, Nos. 1&2 Cayuga Trails Club Annual Meeting & Luncheon Sunday, January 24, 2016, 12 - 4 p.m. Ramada Inn 2310 North Triphammer Road, Ithaca, New York, (607) 257-3100 Registration deadline for luncheon is Friday, January 16th. Special Presentation: What’s going on in our Finger Lakes Parks and Historic Places? Josh Teeter, Environmental Educator for the Finger Lakes Region of the NYS Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, will talk about a variety of projects taking place throughout the region. The projects to be discussed will range from those that that deal with the protection of our native biodiversity to storm damage repairs, as well as some major facility upgrades. Some of projects to be featured are the five million dollar main entrance redesign at Watkins Glen, the latest news on the Black Diamond Trail, ash seed collection, ongoing hemlock wooly adelgid treatments, before and after trail repair photos and the opening of the Seneca Art and Culture Center at Ganondagan State Historic Site. About Josh Teeter: Josh received his undergraduate degree from Binghamton University in 1999 and earned his Master’s degree in recreation management at SUNY Cortland in 2009. He is also currently the Central Regional Director of the New York State Outdoor Education Association (NYSOEA) and adjunct lecturer at SUNY Cortland. 12:00: Social gathering – Coffee, tea and cash bar 12:45: Buffet Lunch: Buffet is $13 for CTC members and guests. (CTC subsidizes actual cost of $17). 1:30: Annual Meeting: Along with annual committee reports and election of 2016 officers, we will be considering a proposed bylaw amendment: Revision to the Cayuga Trails Club By-Laws – Action Required at the Annual Meeting New York State recently revised the law that regulates not-for-profit corporations such as the Cayuga Trails Club. One important addition to the law is a requirement that all non-profits adopt a Conflict of Interest policy, which the Executive Board did in the spring of 2015. The complete text of the amendment is available from the website at http://cayugatrailsclub.org. But because the bylaws set out the powers and management of the Cayuga Trails Club, the Board believes that the bylaws should include a mention of the Conflict of Interest policy, and provide for a means of enforcement. Thus, the proposed bylaw amendments as presented have provisions for both establishing the policy and for removing members of the Executive Board as the means of enforcement. The removal of an Executive Board member is proposed as the reverse of selecting them; only a vote by the full CTC membership can remove an officer elected by the membership; and a Board member appointed by the President (generally Committee Chairs) can be removed by the President. This amendment to the bylaws and creation of the Conflict of Interest policy is solely due to the requirement of the Not- for-Profit Corporation Law, and to make sure that the CTC operates to preserve its not-for-profit status. Amendments to the bylaws must be approved by at least two-thirds of the members attending a members meeting. The Executive Board recommends approval. Complete text of existing bylaws and proposed amendments can be viewed on page eight in this newsletter. 1 FLT through hiker Roy Dando. photo by Cayuga Trails Club President’s Column Jim Connors. By Gary Mallow The View from 2,099 Feet People in leadership positions talk about seeing the big picture, the view from 30,000 feet. I went to the highest point here in Tompkins County, Connecticut Hill, and took a look at our situation from there. Here's what your club accomplished last year, and the work ahead, as I see it from 2,099 feet: We had some challenges in 2015 and I'm proud of the ways we overcame them. The first challenge was adjusting to a new green President who followed a very capable guy in Roger Hopkins. Leading an organization of over 200 hikers, guiding an executive board of twelve, reaching out to affiliated organizations, keeping an eye on our expenses so that they stay within a tiny budget, making sure we had plenty of hikes and good trails…serving as President was a look into another world. In my CTC role, I am in almost daily contact with board members, with regular members and with affiliated groups. I learned a lot about myself and something about how a well-organized club operates. What we accomplished in 2015: The highlight of 2015 has to be construction of the Locust Lean-to and its many amenities for hikers at the Bock-Harvey Preserve. The preserve is a gem in rural Tompkins County that is getting heavy use. We owe Paul Warrender, Roger Hopkins, Matt Brenneman, Robin Carlisle Peck and their crew a debt of gratitude for building the lean-to; barring a massive hemlock crashing down on it, it should provide shelter to hikers and campers for decades. This year our hike coordinator, Barbara Nussbaum, scheduled nearly 80 hikes, including the Tuesday Evening hike series, which was a success for your club. If any proof was needed, this hike series demonstrated that you respond to a regular, weekly, moderate hike in the evening that starts at the same time every week. The Tuesday hikes were Barbara's idea. She also led many other hikes this year. This past spring, we faced a severe weather event that damaged, destroyed, or washed downstream eight bridges and puncheons, and washed out creek crossings. You responded by helping restore three of the bridges and clearing a half mile section of trail with 40 trees down. Those who made it to trail repair sessions found what I've known for a long time: the fun and camaraderie that comes with shared work and a common purpose. Editor Judy Austic provided two trial runs of a digital version of this newsletter, and she is now ready to offer you a digital version of Cayuga Trails as an attachment to an email sent directly to your inbox, eliminating the paper version. The digital version is a greener alternative and it gets to your in-box quickly. If you choose digital, it will save funds that can be put to use to build puncheons, repair trail equipment, and buy the next edition of our trails guide. Our trail ahead in 2016: The business of your club is hikes and hiking trails, and that boils down to organizing a mix of interesting walks that enrich our experience in the woods, along with physically challenging hikes for the hard core hikers. To do that, we need well-maintained, safe, well-blazed hiking trails. We could stop there-lead 70 hikes and maintain 100 miles of trail-and it would be a good year. I think we can do more. This year, we need to be in personal contact with our permitting landowners. Andy Sciarabba has agreed to take on Chair of the Landowner Relations Committee, and his charge is to contact landowners who currently allow the Finger Lakes Trail to cross their land. We haven't done anything like this in my memory, and it's time to get reacquainted and find out what's on landowners' minds. The other half of this project involves working with landowners who don't know us yet. That's another way of saying we should be creating more trail, eliminating road-walks, and that means we need people willing to knock on doors and talk to landowners, creating a good impression and asking landowners if we can walk across their land, even if only one time. More to come on this one. From June 17th to the 19th we'll host as many as 200 hikers from around the state for the Finger Lakes Trail Conference Spring Weekend. The event is coordinated by Robin Carlisle Peck, and she and her committee are well on the way to completing the weekend program, including reserving housing, arranging speakers, and planning a full schedule of hikes. John Andersson has stepped up to edit the next edition of the Guide to Hiking Trails of the Finger Lakes Region. The guide has always competed with traditional hiking guides, but the real competition is now online, where maps from a wide variety of sources can be downloaded to your PC, laptop, tablet, or phone. To carve out a niche for our trails guide, John has to come up with something that offers great value and convenience. He will. In short, your club had another in a series of good years, but let's not sit on our laurels. We have challenges ahead, we have clear goals and talented people willing to contribute their time and energy. Let's get going! 2 Tom Reimers Receives Volunteer Service Award By Barbara Nussbaum Long time Cayuga trails club member Tom Reimers received an award for 30 years of continuous Volunteer Service to Cornell Plantations at the annual Volunteer Appreciation event in the Nevin Welcome Center at Cornell Plantations on December 4th. His main contribution to Cornell Plantations is his maintenance of a 4.5 mile long section of the Cayuga Trail between Freese Road and the end of the Cayuga Trail in Varna. The Cayuga Trail is entirely on Cornell Plantations Property. The Cayuga Trail is 51 years old and the celebration of the 50th anniversary in 2014 was also organized by Tom. The Cayuga Trail is one of the most scenic trails maintained by volunteers of the Cayuga Trails Club.