ࡱ> -/,%` bjbj 4$̟̟   h6P ' ' '     ' "  '     0I  0 _   <,   u ' ' ' '  Friends of Grayson Highlands State Park Minutes of Meeting April 21, 2008 Present: Doug and Donna Niemi, Kevin Kelley, Deana Blevins, Harvey & Moe Thompson Minutes of last meeting approved Treasurers Report: Balance as of April 21, 2008 $5216.22 Credits: $00.00 Total Credits $00.00 Debits: $00.00 Total Debits $00.00 Approved as presented Old Business Deana Blevins will conduct a day hike to Mount Rogers on Saturday, May 10, 2008. There will be no cost for the guided hike. Registration is requested by Thursday, May 8th. Space is limited. The group will leave at 10:00 a.m. and return between 4:00 5:00 p.m. Pack your own lunch and WATER. No updates available on the Dog Show to be held August 9th. Gospel singers will perform on the new stage, Sunday, August 10th in conjunction with Decoration Weekend. The Spring Stewardship Campaign Cleanup was held Saturday, April 19th. Three park employees and 2 volunteers (Martha Spencer and Jason Berry) participated. Two canoes were taken on a portion of the New River and approximately 500 pounds of garbage was collected. Kevin or Deana will find estimates on the cost of a utility trailer for Grayson Friends. Currently, the Niemis are storing the recycle containers, bags, Friends Logo signs and other items. A trailer will allow everything to remain together, provide easy access and not get lost. Park Manager Time Extensive renovation has taken place at the Contact Station. A Fence at the parking lot at Massie Gap has been installed in order to prevent soil erosion and direct human traffic. The proposed horse manure dry storage facility (required for compliance with BCOM Buildings of the Commonwealth specifications guidelines) has reached an unreasonable cost. Other measures are now being reviewed for this project. Spectrum Design is in preliminary stages of proposal for the Ranger residence. Cattle grazing have resumed. The park is pumping water and attempting to be full service by May 1st. This is difficult when temperatures drop below freezing as they did last week with temperatures reaching 26 degrees. Harvey and Daniel presented the park budget for review two weeks ago at a meeting held at Hemlock Haven. Estimates are $293,000 in park costs. No timeline has been given for approval of the budget. Harvey attended the Park Managers meeting at Westmoreland State Park. The National Park Service Department of the Interior and Virginia State Parks has joined in the effort to Bring Family and Nature Together. This coordinates with the Virginia State Parks Children in Nature programs. It is hoped that this will stimulate a concern for the environment and help address some issues of inactivity and obesity. Public Canoe Trips will begin the first Saturday of Memorial Day weekend. George Hamilton IV will be the headliner for the Wayne C. Festival and Guitar Competition. New Business Blue Ridge Relay contacted the Friends group regarding assistance with their race on Friday, September 5, 2008 from 5 a.m. to 6 a.m. They will also sponsor the Black and Blue Cycling Relay on Saturday, July 19, 2008. Volunteers are needed from 5 a.m. to 6:15 a.m. on that day. Previously, a generous donation has been made to the Friends group for helping with these events. There is a possibility to provide food as a fund raiser too. Donna requests that other Friends members join in helping with this event. Volunteers are also needed to help at the Grayson Friends information table during the Wayne C. guitar competition and Fall Festival weekend. An email will be sent to Friends members alerting them of this opportunity to support the efforts of the Friends group. Donna informed the group that Ann Watson would like to borrow several of the Friends Recycle Units to use at Football games for Grayson County. She would like to see if people will use them and recycle, and then her group will purchase their own. Motion was made and approved to permit this, since the Friends group would like to encourage others to care for the environment. Kevin presented a request list of items for childrens interpretive programs. The list included: 4 ground tarps, 32 ounce kitchen tarp, pocket rocket stove, 3 fuel cans, group fee for Adventure Rangers bike ride on the VA creeper trail (2 programs), 3 cases of variety pack modeling clay, 4 two-way magnifying viewers and food for the overnight camping trips. Motion was made and approved to provide up to $1000 towards the cost of Childrens interpretive programs. Donna requested water be routed to prevent it from eroding the wildflower garden. She will be ordering some plants soon and may replant some Frasir Firs in the garden too. Doug Ogle has been helping her with the garden. She would like the Friends group to send a thank you when she locates the address. Next meeting May 19, 2008 7 p.m. at the Park Office. Kk y ! #   i z JKLZh(hh*8!H* hh*8!hh*8!5(JK& N T j k x E M h i { KLY_gd*8!@&gd*8! $@&a$gd*8!@&gd*8!21h:pceg/ =!"#$% @`@ *8!NormalCJ_HaJmH sH tH DA@D Default Paragraph FontVi@V  Table Normal :V 44 la (k@(No List $(JK&NTjkxEMhi{ K L Y _@0@0@0@0@0@0@0@0@0@0@0@0@0@0@0@0@0@0@0@0@0@0@0@0@0@0@0@0@0@0@0I00(Mhi{ @0@0J00J00J00@0@0 00,G\-Gd.G3/G30GD31G32G33GlR 4GR 5GR 6G,S 7GlS 8GS 9GS :G,T ;GlT G,U ?GlU @GU   5 5 B      '' A L L    8 *urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttagsCity=*urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags PlaceType=*urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags PlaceName9*urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttagsplace P 9?3L Z  *8!cegiw*`'6iG(H@@@UnknownGz Times New Roman5Symbol3& z Arial"qhĭ; "; "x24   @HX)?*8!2Maureen M. ThompsonOh+'0`  ( 4@HPXMaureen M. 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