NH Mushers Association

NHMA 2004 Annual Meeting Minutes 8-22-04

Greetings and Introductions were done by Tom Dimaggio

Treasurer's report:
Balance = $785.68

Secretary's Report:
June Minutes were reviewed and accepted

OLD BUSINESS

Membership Committee report:
We have 86 members at present

Our present methods of Communication include the yahoo email group, web site bulletin board, board liasons and the upcoming Newsletter

Rhonda presented mock up of newsletter which was liked by everyone.

Topics for the newsletter will included:

Safety and equipment
Legislative watch update
Bureau of trails update: Tom will keep us informed on what the B of Trails is doing
Maps and trail info: with member only up-to-date access for conditions on trails and motorized training rig access WE NEED people to claim a trail to give parking/ training times and reliable updated snow conditions to make this work well, volunteers contact any of the board members for specific instructions and needs
Mr Muster: questions and comments, interactive

Jim suggested that people with suggestions can contact Rhonda either by phone or yahoo email address.

The first newsletter will be mailed in Sept then bimonthly thereafter

Tom pointed out that the Mr. Muster section will be for dog sled racing/training/health/housing basically any related questions. The three mushers answering questions will be anonymous.

We can only be as good as our volunteers - please help if you can

Snowmobile appreciation certificate:
Intent = recognize snowmobile club who has done the most to help us out. We are looking for clubs that help us.

Snowmobile Club appreciation certificate votes so far:

These clubs will all be given certificates of thanks. Pam will prepare them and they will be presented at the NHSA meeting in Oct. AND Thanks to Bob Spoerl for all his help!!

Financial Impact Study:
The Grant process was described and details given about how those granting agencies were chosen.

Two grants have been applied for but more must be pursued to ensure that we keep this project moving along. We need $10,000 to carry out this scientific study which will be headed up by a research group at UNH.

Comments:
Bob Spoerl suggested the state vet for names for the mailing survey

Tom suggested important part of this is numbers - we need to find all those independent and recreational people because they are so important. States recognize amounts of $ and numbers of people involved when legislating

Rhonda alluded to the fact that this will help with our impact on the states decisions on what to do with rail beds.

Railbed Issues:
Tom elaborated on the present issue in the state about the railbed potential. An outside organization (Rizzo Associates) was hired to evaluate all state railbeds.

Bob, Tom, DOT reps and regional development planners were on the committee to advise and help that organization.

They determined where all the railbeds were and then held 4 public meetings around the state to determine usage.

Rizzo designed maps and reports on reasonable potential use of each railbed. This was determined by which groups maintain and promote each section. Their usage will take priority and alternative surfaces have been considered.

4 scenarios:

This is ongoing and we need to keep on top of decisions to be made about the Rail Trails. Right now they are great training areas.

ANNUAL MEETING

Guests:
Tom introduced Red Goodman and Ingrid Bower from the newly formed VT Mushers Association. Red introduced their new organization and asked for support.

Rhonda asked if you have to be a VAST member to run on their trails - answer was no, but their insurance increased 100fold and so they join clubs to support the clubs. They find themselves in the same technical situation as the NHMA in that they technically don't have permission to run on snowmobile trails and they are finding the same that some clubs enjoy their membership and some are refusing.

Bob S pointed out that the federal money for any state has to be split up 40/30/30: 40% motorized, 30% mixed use and 30% non-motorized. The state has to show that this is happening properly. The understanding is that VAST gets about 70% and could be of use to the VT group in negotiating with VAST.

General Comments from the Group about NHMA:

more we talk to people the better we'll do (Gary)
impressed, web page search is hard need meta-tags on website (Ingrid B)
(Jim L) done a lot but a lot to do. We need more feedback because we're having a hard time getting people involved.
(Adam C) organized, gained lots of knowledge
(Josh S) keep members updated and the newsletter will probably help
(Greg B) organization is still forming strategies
(Pam L-C) nice to get more members to come to meetings
(Lana P) hard to feel included, maybe do something fun to draw people. Training get together, advertise, etc..
(Pam) maybe at trade fair?
(Sandy D) hard to belong to so many clubs and may not realize how important this organization is
(Ngawra C) likes the ambassador program, very helpful
(Rich) potential organizational strength is education of the membership AND non-mushers - get spectators involved.
(Mike E) make meetings easier to come to - don't make people need to call ahead.
OK, we'll drop the notification and really encourage all people to come to the meetings.
What about moving the meetings around the state? We need to look into this.
(Red G) good job on the information that is being disseminated by the group.
(Bob S.) lot of focus on the group but don't lose sight of the need to be active in your local community: snowmobile clubs, DOT meetings for road improvements, upper valley trails alliance, etc.
(Kip B) thanks to the handful of people doing the Lion's share. Doesn' t think the mushing community really understand yet how important this organization is.
(Tom D) YSHC training day..maybe we should be available to very new people there for that event. Should we be involved?
(Jim L.) consistant on the trail access focus and maybe we should stay that way?
(Ingrid) the hard part about being focused is going out and getting people involved
(Pam) especially because of the survey.
Rhonda suggests that we should go to the NESDC rig race/training day as well.

WE NEED REPRESENTATIVES to help us out.

Next board meeting:
Sept 9th 2004 at the DRED building in Concord.

Rhonda motioned to close meeting
Jim seconded it was unanimous to close for lunch

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