....so where has Penny been?....

Our group got a National Park Service grant (RTCA) that provides a mentor
and staff, no money, to develop a concept plan for a trails area, for the
Beacon Hill Area in Spokane. This area has 25+ miles of trail, links three
city parks, one county park, and the centennial trail with a mix of property
owners - some private, a lot of utility and parks.

The goal of the grant is to take a year or so and come up with a concept
plan that encompasses the following:
(1) create a shared vision/plan for the area with the landowners and
greater community,
(2) form legal agreements that allow recreation access,
(3) create a trail plan that includes identifying trails that will be kept
open, closed, re-routed, improved etc.
(4) develop design standards for the various types of trails developed,
(5) develop/implement a plan for additional amenities (i.e. parking, signs,
other?), and
(6) create a map that allows everyone to find/use/enjoy this trail system.

Susan, our NPS mentor, came over from Seattle yesterday and we did the land
manager meeting blitz. This is in addition to our public kick off meeting
that we did last night. This was also in addition to my presentation to the
parks land council that I thought was next week, that had more do with just
general club activities. This means yours truly attended 6 meetings in 30
hours.

1. Utility landowner - wow, what a great proposal, how can we help? Oh, we
hate motorized users on our land.
2. County parks - wow, what a great proposal, we support you
3. City parks, - wow, great proposal, this needs to happen
4. Kick off meeting. we had 10 rsvps and 85 people showed up. The plan to
hand pick an advisory committee out of attendees had to be adjusted. Local
property owners who have trails on their land say they like the idea, as
does members of neighborhood council
5. Meet with regional health district physical activity director who is one
of our partners. Ideas for where grant $$ might be found are generated as
related to trailheads and neighborhood accesses.
6. Present to park board - talk a lot about what we have done for them at no
cost.

burnout, buzz, now it's time to take a look at my notes and figures what
happens next. I will say this, our IMBA rep is an awesome speaker about
landowner/management issues. He just about got a round of applause when he
finished his piece last night, which is more than I would say about my
parts.

1¢

more info here if anyone cares. RTCA grants have been used on some of the
rivers/ridge stuff down in B-town.
http://www.fttrc.org/beacon-rtca.cfm