Venue: RRRD Work station.
Invitees: Friends of the Forest, NMBP, VVCC, Westerners and other volunteer individuals and groups.
The event opened with a board meeting and recognition event sponsored by Friends of the Forest. Several awards were presented, recognizing superior individual performance in several areas. The VVVC had two members recognized, Al Milavec and Michael Harris.
Al was recognized for exceptional performance and hours working with the graffiti cleanup team. His professionalism and capabilities were mentioned several times. Michael was awarded for logging more than 1,000 volunteer hours on the trail patrol, following leader Spence Gustav, who was number 1 in volunteer hours.
After the Friends adjourned their meeting, USFS District Ranger Nicole Brandt cited volunteer funding performance. The VVCC received first mention as a primary and focused contributor, ahead of Red Rock Trail Fund, and was additionally mentioned in conjunction with Western Gateway funding as it pertains to the Ecological study and testing required. (NEPA)
Additionally the VVCC was mentioned in depth by Volunteer Coordinator Justin Loxley. He addressed the significant number of volunteers and hours contributed by VVCC members on trail maintenance and construction. He also specifically mentioned the Red Rock Bike Patrol and praised the Patrol for the 3,000+ hours contributed to helping all user groups while patrolling the trails. Finally, Justin used USFS data to show that the total number of volunteer hours provided this most recent accounting period equated to more than nine million dollars.
The event culminated with a nice barbecue and veggie lunch provided jointly by a Flagstaff barbecue restaurant and local contributor A Taste of Marrakech.
