2017 Spring Quarterly Membership Meeting - 'Quick' Update!

[hunter4x4]

Hi Great Lakers!

Short editorial comment: I had this all set yesterday afternoon and I ran into some PC glitches! But here it is now!

Quick (well, sort of quick!) update on Saturday's (4/29/17) Spring Quarterly Membership Meeting hosted by Mud Sweat & Gears at the Dorsey House Inn in Clyde, MI (Port Huron area).

We had a very good turnout with just under 50 members in attendance! (It's great to see our Quarterly Membership Meetings attendance start to come up! For the last year in rough numbers we're averaging over 50 per meeting, which is over 10% of our total membership!)

Officer and committee reports were made first as they normally are - here are the hilights:
- Financials: Sound, a couple major expenditures coming up but we are well positioned to meet them.
- Membership: 422 members!!
- Boondocker: An excellent Winter 2017 issue published; Boondocker editor reminded membership that articles are welcome!
- The GLFWDA Store is getting back up to speed. IF there's something you'd like shoot Mike Timm an e-mail at "store@glfwda.org".
- Awareness & Training just finished up with their annual Silver Lake staff training.
- The Trail Ride Committee has started planning the GLFWDA Membership Appreciation Meeting scheduled for 7/15 in St. Helen's.
- Trail Maintenance reported that our 2018 Grant Application is ready for submission, and that we're on track for our 2017 requirements.

Jim Kitson reported in that the with regard to the Oakland County ORV Park it still pretty much more of the same - which is a good thing! Still all positive and things are moving forward, though at a snail's pace. Jim has been out to the site and noted that the parking area is defined, and a budget determined.

Mike Olmstead reported on the Jeep the Mac event (see post in the "Events, News and Announcements" section in the forums. ) Concern was expressed over the large number of Jeeps on Drummond Island at one time and the possible detrimental effect that may have on the trail system. Also discussed was that many of those visiting the Drummond trail system were there for the first time and were unfamiliar with 'trail etiquette'. It was suggested that perhaps next year 1) a 'Tread Lightly' announcement be made at the kickoff driver meeting on Friday and 2)GLFWDA volunteers might post at various points on the trail system help the organizers with 'traffic management' and trail etiquette.

Future events with a GLFWDA presence discussed were:
- Jeep Blessing this weekend (5/6) in Mesick
- Jeeping for a Cure at Rocks and Valleys on 5/20
- West Michigan Jeep & 4x4 Fest - July 24, Hudsonville 6/24
- Member Appreciation Run - 7/15
- DOA, 8/17-8/20

In addition there are a couple DNR meetings of note that it would be nice to have representation at.
On May 3 there's a combined Snowmobile Advisory Group and ORV Advisory Group meeting in St. Ignace at 10:00 AM. IF you think you can make it please contact me for more information it would be nice to have representation at this meeting.

In addition, with regard to PA288(2016), there are three meetings to address issues coming up in June. This change to PA288 was signed into law in 2016 requiring the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to allow motorized use on lower peninsula forest roads unless otherwise marked closed. In order to do this an 'inventory' of forest roads will be created, 'officially' with public input. This could work for recreational trail users or against us, and it all depends on the trail inventory. As discussed at the meeting, it's going to take local representation to ensure that the DNR inventories ALL the trails that not only we use, but hunters, hikers, etc. use throughout the year.

The meeting dates and locations are:
Monday, June 19- 5:30 to 7:30pm
- QUALITY INN FORWARD CONFERENCE CENTER, WEST BRANCH – (Amy)
Tuesday, June 20-5:30 to 7:30pm
- CARL T. JOHNSON CENTER, CADILLAC – (Todd)
Wednesday, June 21- 5:30 to 7:30pm
- JAY’S SPORTING GOODS CONFERENCE ROOM, GAYLORD- (Paige)

We have a little more time to plan for this one, but I believe if we're going to serve our membership and meet their expectations, representation at these meetings is necessary. And at that same however, this is exactly the situation where the general membership and member clubs can have a positive and lasting impact on our sport by volunteering and participating!!!

Finally, per the By Laws, the general membership voted on two new committee chairs:
Lucas Gottler, Public Relations (PR) Committee and
Mike Wade, Land Use (LUC) Committee.

Both gentleman had a chance to say a few words directly after unanimous votes to put them on the GLFWDA staff.

Lucas indicated that as PR he would like to create picture messages that contain the following:
- our logo
- address
- email
His vision is that this would be in a 'standardized image layout for logo, frame etc'.

Within this picture Lucas' vision to insert simple, short messages that would cover a range of topics, all directly or indirectly relating to full-size activities, such as 'Tech tip', 'Did you know', 'Know your DNR'; he would also use tech, cool numbers info, safety tips, what maybe even what GLFWDA done in past.

Lucas also wants to include a good picture relating to the message, but something interesting or neat to spice it up. He sees various communication methods (Facebook, twitter, forums, website, boondocks, etc) to get this message out.

IN my opinion, the best part of Lucas' vision is he challenged us, the membership, to use these 'picture messages' when they're developed to put them where our friends, acquaintances, other ORV enthusiasts not currently in our circle, can see them .

And in all fairness, he's not going to be able to do this alone. So keep your eyes and ears open for opportunities to help out. Or even better - be proactive and contact Lucas at "prchair@glfwda.org"!

I personally want to thank Lucas for stepping up, and say publically that I love his ideas!


Mike Wade also had a lot to say about the LUC Chairperson position! He shared his vision of where he'd like to see the LUC go.

One of Mike's first comments to me after he accepted the nomination was "In summary, one person can’t do all of this, well at least not well. My approach is to divide and conquer..."

Mike wants to look at the State regionally, enlisting GLFWDA members and regoinal clubs to perform various LUC duties in their respective portions of the State.

Mike shared his goal is to cover state activities, events, & meetings. He also wants to enlist current and/or recruit new GLFWDA members to cover various state activities, events, & meetings.

And Mike recognizes that there are many who've expressed interest to participate, but cannot commit to “all in”.

To help Mike out he did ask me earlier for some input that I suspect that the general membership can help him with too!
- If you have an interest shoot Mike you name & contact Information.
- If you're a relatively new member here's a great place to jump in!
- If you know of any State and/or local events that have an LUC impact, let Mike know!
- And if you know of any other activities that have an LUC impact, Mike would like to have that information too!

I will reiterate: Mike can't do it all alone!!! This is a good time for regional clubs to step up and start to get involved again! Contact Mike at landuse@glfwda.org to get involved!

And I also want to thank Mike again for stepping up to fill this important role!


And finally, a super thanks to Mud, Sweat & Gears and Mike Timm for hosting! It was obvious more than a little thought went into the planning! The venue worked perfectly (the Dorsey House staff was super!), and though the 'trail' ride didn't have any hills, rock obstacles, or mud, it was unique, and I thought it was never-the-less a very enjoyable ride!

And this is about where the meeting wound up! In closing we noted that even though we have a dedicated cadre of volunteer officers and committee chairpeople, we absolutely cannot do it alone! We need help from the general membership in a variety of ways! If you have questions about volunteering please feel free to contact me at "president@glfwda.org", or contact the other key persons as noted above.

Mike Olmstead
President - GLFWDA


PS: Check out Facebook for some of the pics from the meeting!!!

[gnjeepn]

The date you have posted for the West Michigan Jeep & 4X4 fest is kind of confusing. First it says July 24th then Hudsonville 6/24. The correct information is June 24th at the Hudsonville fairgrounds.