Annual Meeting
Narragansett Chapter, Appalachian
Mountain Club
November 16, 2002
The Chair, Steve Pierce, called the meeting to order at the Episcopal Church in Providence, RI at 6:14 PM.
Board members Attending: Steve Pierce, chair; Larry Rollins, vice-chair; Fred Griffith, secretary; Chris Shafer, activities; Sue Cerullo, past-chair; Maria Earley, Stewart Rosenfeld & Diana Penrose, membership; Jack Schempp and Linda Pease, conservation; Craig & Terry Gaspard, family outings; Ed Poyer, leadership development; Nuala & Michael McLaughlin, trails; Sue DiSimoni, archivist and Steve Morra, communications.
Chair’s Report:
Steve thanked the Board members who had helped out during his term as Chair. He presented the slate of new officers nominated to the chapter, and they were voted into office with the Secretary casting one vote for the slate:
Chair: Larry Rollins
Vice-chair: Susan Disimoni
Treasurer: vacant
Secretary: Fred Griffith
Membership chair: Marie Earley
Larry Rollins then took the podium and thanked Steve for his hard work for the chapter. He also thanked Mary Canavan, who served until October as Treasurer. The treasurer’s job is open for now and volunteers with some bookkeeping knowledge are being sought. For the short-term, Larry R. will hold the checkbook and receipts and requests for funds should be sent to him. Mary and Larry worked out a spreadsheet report of the current budget, as of 10/31/02. The chapter currently has about $10,000 in its account, and some further SDA funds are expected from Joy Street later.
Larry also thanked George Vivieros, who is stepping down as Bicycling Sub-chair. He thanked Stewart Rosenfield and Diana Penrose, who are passing the Membership committee baton to Maria.
Past Chairs in attendance were recognized, as were the members who now have been in the chapter for 25 years. We had no 50-year members this year.
The 25-year members were the following:
Richard H. Durand, North Smithfield, RI
Andrew M. Erickson, East Greenwich, RI
Bruce Campbell, Foster, RI
Bob Anderson and Carol Anderson, Portsmouth, RI
Katherine Byers was in attendance from Joy Street. She explained that she works in Outdoor Leadership. She is involved with running the Mountain Leadership School sessions, and she supports leadership development. She is particularly involved with risk management. While there is a staff of about 60 at Joy Street, the Club depends on volunteers to get most of its work done.
Larry introduced Chris Shafer, Activities Chair, who recognized those who had earned the Leadership Award from the chapter this year. These are our newer leaders, who have led or co-led at least three events in the last two years:
Albert Alba (Young Adult Activities)
Roger Cole (Bicycling and Paddling)
Andy DeLong (Northern Hiking)
Roseann Evans (Conservation)
Adele Holcombe (Local Hiking)
Bob Janus (Local/Northern Hiking)
Marcie Madsen (Bicycling and Northern Hiking)
Michael McLaughlin (Trails)
Terri Pinto (Local/Northern Hiking and Conservation)
Alan Ruiz (Young Adult Activities)
Karen Stein (Local Hiking)
Linda Stevens (Local Hiking)
Dick Sullivan (Local/Northern Hiking)
Chris then recognized the chapter’s Prolific leaders, who have led at least 3 events this year and last year:
Kathy Bagley (Local/Northern Hiking)
Peter Barlow (Technical Climbing)
Roy Benoit (Trails)
Peter Broderick (Local/Northern Hiking)
Denise Burgess (Northern Hiking & Conservation)
Jim Burns (Local Hiking)
Christine Castro (Young Adult Activities)
Bob Cilette (Wednesday Night Events & Local Hiking)
Jennie Crooks (Trails)
Henry Cruciani (Trails)
Patti D’Ambra (Conservation)
Barbara Damico (Local Hiking)
Sue DiSimoni (Bicycling & Skiing & Local/Northern Hiking)
Sandy Dunn (Local/Northern Hiking)
Maria Earley (Local Hiking & Trails)
Craig Gaspard (Family Outings and Diversity Events)
Terry Gaspard (Family Outings and Diversity Events)
Deb Hanley (Young Adult Activities)
Clara Hardy (Young Adult Activities)
Tim Hull (Map & Compass Training)
Gwen Jones (Northern Hiking)
Charlie Killam (Northern Hiking)
Karen Longest (Technical Climbing)
Tom Longest (Technical Climbing)
Cathy Manchester (Local Hiking)
Ray Martin (Technical Climbing)
Sue McMillan (Bicycling & Skiing)
Steve Morra (Biking, Flatwater paddling, Local Hiking, Photography)
Linda Pease (Conservation, Paddling, Bicycling, & Local Hiking)
Diana Penrose (Membership Events & Bicycling)
Ann Perkins (Local/Northern Hiking)
Steve Pierce (Administration & Local Hiking)
Sybil Pierce (Local Hiking)
Ed Poyer (Northern Hiking & Leadership Training Events)
Larry Rollins (Special Events, Bicycling, Skiing, & Northern Hiking)
Stewart Rosenfeld (Membership Events & Bicycling)
John Ross (Local Hiking)
Bill Rush (Flatwater Paddling)
Jack Schempp (Conservation, Skiing, Bicycling, Local & Northern Hiking)
Fran Scullin (Local Hiking)
Chris Shafer (Trails, Skiing, Flatwater Paddling, Local Hiking)
John Stevens (Local Hiking & /Conservation)
Ruth Strach (Flatwater Paddling)
Bev Thomas (Whitewater/Flatwater Paddling & Local Hiking)
Diane Vadnais (Young Adult Activities)
Susan Vadnais (Young Adult Activities)
Susan VanLeaven (Photography/Walks)
Gary Whitney (Paddling & Website)
Larry then introduced Michael & Nuala McLaughlin, co-chairs of the Trails committee, and Jack Schempp & Linda Pease, co-chairs of the Conservation committee. They presented Stewardship award patches to those who had contributed at least 12 hours of work on trails and projects:
Ray Benoit
Jay Corry
Bruce Crooks
Jennie Crooks
Henry Cruciani
Martha Cruciani
Peter DeFreniere
Maria Earley
Jenny Crooks
Yvonne Federowitz
Nuala McLaughlin
Michael McLaughlin
Herrik Spencer
Chris Shafer
Patti D’Ambra
Rosanne Evans
Ilsa Hill
John Stevens
Terri Pinto
Dick Sullivan
Outgoing chair Steve Pierce presented the John Clark Service Award to Steve Morra, Communications chair, for his selfless work behind the scenes for the chapter. Some of the letters of support were read aloud detailing Steve’s hard work for the chapter and his eagerness to help new members find the bicycles and other gear that they need to take part in our activities.
Larry next introduced Ed Poyer, Leadership Development chair, who presented the Appie of the Year award to Jack Schempp. Six former Appies of the year were in attendance, and they took part in the presentation of the plaque and the engraved cup. Jack was honored in part for his work starting the Naturalist program for the chapter, as well as for his efforts leading trips, doing trail work and co-chairing the conservation committee.
Larry announced that this year’s Annual Report would soon be posted on the chapter’s Web site for all to see.
Peter Broderick announced that the chapter is beginning to plan a chapter weekend at the Lonesome Lakes hut the weekend of Saturday, October 18, 2003. Further details will follow.
Sandy Dunn brought a picture board to the meeting about the chapter’s trip to Madison hut on the 4th of July. One of the participants wrote up a personal account of her experiences backpacking in on the Cohos trail with one of the groups, and copies were made available.
Finally, Chris Shafer introduced our speaker for the evening, Russ Cohen, a professional
environmentalist from MA. Russ gave a fascinating slide show and talk on edible plants.
A memo will go out to the Board once the site and date of the next Board meeting is decided.
Respectfully submitted,
Fred Griffith, secretary
The following Annual Reports were submitted by the Narragansett Chapter Committees:
Conservation committee:
The year 2002 was active and interesting as well as a great learning experience.
The Committee offered Chapter
leaders Naturalist training in the basics: trees, birds, wildlife and wild
flowers. Initially four half-day class & field sessions were offered
locally and one weekend session was held in the Whites to provide
mountain-oriented training. The instruction by professional Naturalists was
funded by participant contributions, grants from Joy St and a budget allocation
from our chapter.
Approximately 40 leaders attended one or more of the five workshops sponsored by the Participants rated each workshop as “Excellent”. Many thanks to member Naturalists Denise Burgess and Patty D’Ambra who provided presentations and to Wood-Pawcatuck Watershed, Audubon Society and RI Fish & Wildlife for contributing to the program.
Due to the favorable response, Training was extended. Sessions were added to cover Shore Birds and On the Bay including a trip to Prudence Island. These two programs were open to all members. Many non-leaders attended. Over 60 leaders and non-leaders participated in one or more of the seven sessions.
We plan to continue to offer Naturalist Training in 2003.
Eleven conservation hikes provided a wide prospective including: an American Indian Museum, a Self sustaining house, wild flowers, extraordinary trees, an urban garden coop, a planned revival of a seaside park. Hikes drew 10 – 16 participants
Four field projects were undertaken by the Committee with assistance many members.
Three were trail maintenance on property owned by Norman Bird Sanctuary, The Nature Conservancy and Rose Island Lighthouse. The fourth was a joint project with the Trails Committee: building a boardwalk at Norman Bird Sanctuary.
Members rallied against snowmobiles in Yellowstone National Park and against oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. We also worked to defeat the very bad energy bill. In all three instances, the conservation idea prevailed.
Dedicated events to commemorate the International Year of the Mountain and the30th Anniversary of the Clean Water Act. Also active in supporting RI Earth Day events.
Many thanks to Committee Members for their ideas, enthusiasm, leadership and consistent participation: Rose Ann Evans, Patty D’Ambra, Robert Sumner Mack, John Stevens, Ilse Hill, Terri Pinto, Yvonne Federowicz, Linda Cooper, Dick Yeaw, Carol Burns
Ski Committee:
Virtually no snowfall in RI, reduced snowfall in Southern NH and often marginal conditions in Northern New England substantially reduced ski activity in 2002.
Nevertheless, all four scheduled weekend trips were completed. Some of them provided skiing on only one of the weekend days. The Stowe trip featured T-shirt ski weather and reasonable snow on Saturday, providing participants with an extraordinary opportunity to work on their tans. Unfortunately heavy rains turned the snow to ice on Sunday.
The ski instructional week at Camp Sargent was forced to head north to find suitable snow for training.
The Day trip program, held primarily at Windblown in Southern NH, ended prematurely due to poor snow cover.
Its fortunate that most X-C skiers also enjoy winter hiking.
Paddling committee:
2002 Paddling Chairs:
Bev Thomas, White Water Chair and Linda Pease, Flat Water Chair
Paddle Leaders: Steve Morra, Bill Rush, Chris Shafer, Maria
Earley, Ruth Strach, Gary Whitney and Tom Hollis, Young Members. Roger Cole was a new co-leader this year.
Another successful
paddling season was completed in 2002 with a variety of paddling opportunities
which ran the gamut from free kayak rentals to paddle on the Blackstone with
the National Park Service Rangers on Tuesday nights to sea kayaking on Cape
Cod. Tom Hollis of the young members
ran two successful trips this year, a third was cancelled due to weather.
The Black Tie paddle was
a huge success and this year’s pictures are on Mike Krabach’s website (www.Krabach.info, scroll to bottom of site
to find AMC Black Tie). Also this year,
a trend was started with Gary Whitney’s older male member paddles where all
members were welcome. We even had a 13
year old on one of the paddles.
June is Rivers month,
and again this year we were pleased to list and promote The Wood/Pawcatuck
Source to Sea paddles on Saturdays in June.
Denise Burgess who is an active AMC member/leader and the Program
Director for the Wood/Pawcatuck Watershed Association organizes these
paddles. On Rivers Day, there is a
cook-out and T-shirts are awarded to anyone who attended all four paddles. Each year AMC members report that they have
enjoyed these paddles immensely. Many
of the AMC paddlers volunteer to assist with safety and rescue.
As the old saying goes
“when life hands you a lemon, make lemonade.”
We had originally planned on a paddling trip to the New Bedford
Reservoir after a quick drive-by recon.
However, after the in-depth reconnaissance trip conducted at a later
date, proved the reservoir was too low and parts were somewhat overgrown we
couldn’t offer it as a trip. Our options were to cancel or find another place
to paddle. We decided to check out the
Whitehall Reservoir in Hopkinton, MA.
After a full reconnaissance trip, we decided to substitute it for the
New Bedford Reservoir. The Whitehall Reservoir is quite large and scenic, with
good spots to stop for lunch. Steve
Morra’s usual humor was in full force as he ordered all paddlers to pass
through the Gates of Good Fortune. The
Gates of Good fortune is a two sided rock formation in the middle of the
reservoir. If you made it through
without touching your boat or paddle on the gate, you would have a year of good
luck. If not…, well, several of us are
waiting to see how our luck will turn out this year. This very enjoyable and successful trip will be repeated in
coming years.
We averaged 12 people
per paddle, with a total of 21 paddles scheduled and 19 completed.
We’ve enjoyed another very good year of hiking and backpacking. During the last year our group sponsored 45 activities run by 27 leaders and co-leaders. Our leaders provided activities ranging from the popular day hikes to Mt. Monadnock and the Holyoke range to winter backpack trips. Overnighters to AMC backcountry facilities at Greenleaf, Galehead, and Lakes of the Clouds were extremely popular. Trips to ‘drive up’ AMC facilities such as Pinkham Notch Visitor Center were well attended & thoroughly enjoyed, as were trips to private facilities such as Pembrook Lodge, Harvard Cabin, Vermont, the International Hostel, ‘Johnson’s’, and camp ground trips.
The Madison Hut reunion filled the fifty bunks at the Hut on July 5. Sponsored hikes to the hut provided choices from easy day hikes to a multi-day backpack and a Presidential Traverse.
Backpack trips were run in New Hampshire, and ranged from beginner level summer trips to winter backpacks to the Twins Range and Osceola.
Two of our leaders attended Mountain Leadership School in June, 2002. Three of our leaders are instructors at MLS. Some of our leaders offer inter-chapter trips, and a few of our leaders lead or co-lead Major Excursions in the Rockies and Sierras.
In terms of skills advancement, we again offered workshops in map & compass, winter day hiking which were well attended and very well received. Our Step by Step hiking series, which gradually exposes local hikers to mountain hiking skills and conditions, continued to attract much interest. Our two northern hikes planning meetings were again successful.
Our committee purchased two sets of crampons for beginner trips.
Thank you to our northern hikes leaders and co-leaders, who gave us so many fine activities this year.
The Trails Committee had some
dedicated volunteers in a variety of areas for the October 2001 thru October
2002 year.
A total of 297 administrative hours were spent by volunteers with regards to
monthly meetings (Trails Committee and Trails Advisory Committee) and with
regards to working on and keeping abreast of the motorcycle issue. Our monthly
meetings attendance averaged 8 persons.
A total of 111 hours was spent blazing which in most cases required
removing plastic blazes and reblazing with paint as requested by DEM Jay Aaron.
Blazing was done on the Tippecansett Trail (all but about one mile on each tail
end was completed), the Mt Tom Trail, and the Breakheart Trail to the Penny
Lane Cutoff. Most of this work was done by Jennie and Bruce Crooks. We are
going to monitor the endurance of these new blazes over the next years as
compared with plastic blazes on the Vin Gormley Trail.
A total of 76 hours was spent on brushing and trimming by our trail committee
volunteers. This work was done on the Hudson Trail, the Ben Utter Trail, the
Arcadia Trail, the Pachaug Trail, the Breakheart Trail, the Shelter Trail, the
Escoheag Trail and the Tippecansett Trail. A total of 454 hours was spent on
big projects. 2 of these were organized by the Trails committee alone (El Pond,
May 4 and June 22, 2002 and Vin Gormley Weekend September 6-7, 2002); 1 was
organized as a collaborative with other user groups (which turned out to
include only mountain bikers, Trails Day June 1, 2002); and one was a
collaborative with the conservation committee (Norman Bird Sanctuary, May
10-11, 2001).
On the El Pond Project 11 volunteers worked together to resurface two bog bridges (boardwalks), construct hill cribbing, and construct steps. Volunteers found the actual construction work was the easiest part of this project; it was the carrying the supplies which was most rigorous for all. Henry Cruciani and Roy Benoit spent 30 hours scouting, planning, purchasing and prepping for this very successful and big project.
The Vin Gormley Weekend was another great success this year. A weekend of fun combined with quite a bit of work. 27 volunteers spent a total of 180 hours constructing 12 bog bridges (boardwalks), putting in stepstones, staining the kiosk, and brushing and trimming.
The Norman Bird Sanctuary project involved 8 Trails Committee volunteers a total of 64 hours of working on boardwalk construction and brushing with the total group of 27 volunteers.
The Trails Day project involved 11
volunteers spending a total of 55 hours building one small bridge, redirecting
a stream, putting a silt screen on the berm of the stream, hardening the tread
way with gravel and light brushing. We also had 4 non-AMC volunteers (mountain
bikers) who spent the day working cooperatively on this project. This project
was organized and lead by Henry Cruciani with lots of support from Roy Benoit.
A total of 12 new members showed an interest in becoming involved with trail
work. Of these a total of 5 new volunteers came out to work on trails. They
learned the ins and outs of brushing and trimming for a total of 19 hours.
Additionally, an estimated 10 new volunteers came out to work on the major
projects.
Technical Climbing
committee:
Technical Climbing began the year with a full class
and many students
who continued to the Intermediate level. Major trips were taken to
the Gunks (NY), Adirondacks (NY), Cathedral and Whitehorse Ledges,
Cannon Cliff and Echo Crag (NH). Supplemental trips were taken to
local top-roping areas, along with two day-long Women's Climbing Days
in Massachusetts.
Special instruction in Self-Rescue for Technical Climbing was also
offered to many of our class instructors and leaders during two
day-long sessions in CT by a local expert and author of a widely-used
book on self-rescue techniques.
Once again, we would like to thank the many dedicated instructors and
co-instructors for a year of wonderful climbing.
Family Outings Committee:
May - Spring Fling - 28 people attended a hike at Goddard Park. We hiked a scenic 2 mile loop along the water and we enjoyed the company of families and children of all ages.
August - Sachuest Point, Middletown - 3 families enjoyed a 2.5 mile loop and a swim in the Sakonnet Bay and picnic afterwards.
Sept. - A hike was planned to the Norman Bird Sanctuary but had to be cancelled due to inclement weather. It was co-sponsored with the local hikes committee.
June, 2002 - Terry co-lead a hike for 6 elementary age children with special needs and/or behavioral challenges at The Norman Bird Sanctuary in Middletown. The co-leader was from the Bird Sanctuary. The title of our activity was Exploring the Habitat. The funding was from the AMC Diversity Committee.
Biking committee:
2002 was for the most part, a good year for biking. Our biking season is only six months (April through October) yet we were able to schedule 28 rides thanks to the continuing efforts of our leaders. We had a good variety of rides for members to choose from: easy riders rides, intermediate rides, advanced rides and biking weekends. We rides offered in three states, there was something for all levels of riders.
Many thanks to all the leaders who made this season possible. They are the people who make biking activities possible.
Approximately 2,700 people of all ages call themselves members of our chapter as we write. Growth this past year has seen a net increase of 180 members, with actual new members joining of 620. Retention rates of those new members after their first year is less than 70%, owing primarily to failure to participate in any event the year joined, as well as job changes, relocation, graduation, etc.
We propose that MEMBERSHIP in the future concentrate not only on obtaining new members, but rather RETAINING those same members by encouraging participation and involvement during that first critical year. This is not a problem unique to our chapter but rather these percentages are uniform across the entire club. Perhaps activities targeting New Members only as introductions to the outdoors would be beneficial. Leadership and Activity Chairs may want to consider this avenue.
Two successful Pot Lucks in the Spring and Fall have continued the tradition of welcoming new and prospective members. The sale of Memberships in a Bottle
has been successful and should be encouraged through Gazette advertising
as ideal gifts for holidays, birthdays, etc.
As the last time we write this end of year summary, we would both like to thank all of those who have helped us at our activities over the past seven years, especially those at the potlucks. We would also like to thank and acknowledge
the many chapter Board members with whom we’ve had the pleasure of working
throughout our term.
Best of luck and encouragement to our successor.
The Narragansett Chapter AMC, Local Hikes Committee has sponsored or co-sponsored 127 activities and 2 planning meetings between November 1, 2001 and October 31, 2002. John Stevens stepped down as sub-chair during this time and Fran Scullin became sub-chair for the April Local Hikes Meeting. Forty volunteers either lead or co-lead these activities.
There were a wide variety of events from “Easy Walker” events to strenuous hikes. The area covered by the Local Hikes committee was increased and now covers Rhode Island and north to the Massachusetts-New Hampshire line and west to the Connecticut River.
Highlights of the last year include:
· 49 Hike and Social events. As in the past, these events are very popular and regularly draw twenty to twenty-five members.
· 7 Step By Step hikes in conjunction with the Northern Hikes Committee. This has shown to be a good way for hikers to “graduate” to mountain hiking by learning the basics.
· 8 Weekend warm-up hikes. This is a new effort by Dick Sullivan to attract members for a Thursday morning walk.
· 1 Hike with Family Outings.
· Spring Fling. Leaders were available to lead hikes of different lengths and difficulty for the participants.
· Woodstock, CT. Festival. Local Hikes leaders lead three different hikes for this festival.