Hello Great Lakes Four Wheel Drive Association membership!

Last Saturday (5/12) the Two Tracker's hosted the GLFWDA Spring Quarterly Membership Meeting, and it went very well! Thanks to all the GLFWDA members who showed up for the meeting and the very pleasant trail ride following.

Here's what we dicussed:

We had our regular committee reports: finances strong, membership strong.

We spent a bit of time on the Land Use Committee report. Discussed was implementation of PA 288, other public meetings, and the NOHVCC convention upcoming in August.

With regard to Land Use issues, the hilight of the meeting was the attendance by Jessica Holley, DNR Statewide Motorized Trail Analyst. Best quote of the meeting was from Jessica when she indicated that she felt that "...the full sized ORV segment is under served..."!!! Jessica shed light on a number of areas, mingled with members, and even hitched a ride with one of our Land Use Committee people for the trail ride! Thank you Jessica!

The GLFWDA Store is now being managed by Lisa Maxson - thank you Lisa! I know you'll let us all know when you've got things up and running!! E-mail address the same: 'store@glfwda.org'.

Eric Culling submitted a written Trail Maintenance report; spring brushing and reports all have to be done by Memorial Day. Eric attended a 4/17/18 trail maintenance kick-off meeting, which was essentially the review of programs and procedures. And he also reported that the 2019 grant application has been submitted.

The Spring Boondocker should be out this week. Effective with the next issue (Summer Boondocker) member distribution will be exclusively electronically via e-mail. There are several reasons for the change: A majority of our distribution is already electronic, and numerous copies are returned with every issue at considerable expense to the association. In spite of her efforts to maintain current and up-to-date member information in our files, many members unfortunately forget to advise our Membership Secretary of changes in their information causing the return to the Association. This was a unanimous decision of the Executive Board.

We covered updates on some of the events the Association recently participated in; in short, we did very well at the Jeep the Mac and the Blessing!

Jim Kitson submitted a written update on the Oakland County ORV Park. He reports that the county expects to open in June of 2019. There are a couple other exciting things being discussed by the principles but they will be kept under wraps until they are fully developed. Jim reports that the county is fully on board and the park is moving forward with a planned opening of June 2019. And GLFWDA is funding a 'green' dust mitigation product for a test at the site later this month.

Forthcoming events with a GLFWDA presence include the West Michigan Jeep & 4x4 Fest (6/23), S&B Jeep Fest (7/21), Wheeling for a Cure (9/29), Jeep Creep (10/26-28).

And we have some opportunities for ambitious members who want to help make a difference!!
• We are going to need a new Boondocker editor at the end of the summer when Ed Schroeder steps down, which really means we need a volunteer now so we can get some training in!
• Our current Trail Maintenance Coordinator Eric Culling is also stepping down later this year and also needs a volunteer to step up.
• And stay tuned, the possibility exists for one or two additional openings!
There will be more detail on both of these positions in the forthcoming Boondocker!

At the suggestion of our Boondocker Editor we added something to this meeting that I've never done before: Club Reports! We heard from Mud Sweat & Gears, Two Trackers, Sundowners, and What Lies Beyond. Nice!

Our next Quarterly Membership Meeting will be on Saturday, July 7 at Elwood's Restaurant, 1076 S Belsay Rd, Burton, MI 48509 10:00 AM, hosted by the What Lies Beyond Jeep Club. A trail ride at the Mounds follows!

And that's about it for now Great Lakes members!

Mike Olmstead
President - GLFWDA