Trail Talk
OnLine Newsletter

Updated: July 8, 2002

Inside This Issue

Excerpts from the July 2002 edition of Trail Talk:

 

One of these issues was raised by our president, Randy Brown, concerning the proposed hiring of a professional Association Manager to run the business side of OCTA, and the other was raised by NFTP editor, Bill Martin, concerning the present congressional impasse pertaining to further additions to the California/Oregon National Historic Trails System. Both of these issues are on the agenda for board discussion and action at the Reno convention.

Our Bylaws clearly place the authority and responsibility for running this organization on the national board of directors -as it should be - but every organization is well advised to assess its underlying philosophy, its goals, and its organizational structure from time to time in the light of what it has already accomplished, as well as, what it perceives it has left to do, and I see this as being one of those pivotal times. OCTA has been in existence for twenty years now.

Has the time come to revamp our organizational structure, or to perhaps downsize, or to revise our goals in order to sharpen our focus as to the reality of what is out there for us yet to accomplish in the area of historic trails preservation?

Let me begin by noting that the question of whether or not to hire an Association Manager to run the business affairs of OCTA is anything but new. It has been debated repeatedly since the very founding of OCTA, and it has always before been rejected for both philosophical and financial reasons.

OCTA was founded as an organization of volunteers, and those who chose to be active participants in the trails preservation effort have always considered this volunteer ethic to be the strength of our organization and the fundamental basis for our many successes. It was our belief that there would always be a certain number of dedicated activists who would step forward and volunteer to carry the heavy burden of running the organization and that this would allow us to devote the greatest amount of our financial resources as was possible directly to the preservation effort, and thus afford us the most bang for our preservation bucks.

It is the tendency of every organization to institutionalize or professionalize itself to some extent as it matures, but our goal was to keep the necessary institutional overhead expenses to the minimum The "fun stuff," as Randy so correctly characterized it in his comments, was certainly of great importance to us - and continues to be so - but it was not, as he asserts, what initially motivated a large number of us to join OCTA and sustained our efforts over the years. We realized and accepted the fact that there would be much hard, tedious, time consuming, and, at times, discouraging work to be done. As volunteers, we were willing to commit to that work, and we viewed that high level of volunteer commitment as the reason why we were so successful on a cost/effectiveness basis.

It seems to me that the questions implicit in Randy's comments are:

1) Has the original volunteer enthusiasm which has motivated and sustained OCTA's work over the years declined to the point where our organization needs to commit a very substantial amount of its limited financial resources towards hiring a professional to manage our business and operational aspects;

2) Or, have we perhaps been so successful in setting up and accomplishing our various programs that the time is at hand at which we can now put our major emphasis on enjoying the "fun stuff" and our accomplimnents;

3) Does it make sense for us to be spending the amount of money which is going to be required to employ and keep an Association Manager in order merely to institutionalize and perpetuate ourselves as an organization; and

4) Will the hiring of an Association Manager further the cause of historic trails preservation to a degree significant enough to make the monetary investment truly worthwhile?

I have my own opinions on these questions, but, quite frankly, it is the membership which needs to consider the alternatives and let the board of directors know its thinking.

Looming very large in these considerations are the financial realities of our organization. The salary figures for hiring a manager which I hear floating around range from $60,000 to $80,000 -probably the higher amount if we wish to get someone who would be competent and willing to stay with OCTA for a while. OCTA's financial report, as printed in the April, 2002 NFTP, shows a surplus of $25,000 for the last fiscal year.

Using this figure (and our surplus varies from year to year) this would leave from $35,000 to $55,000 for a manager to raise each year in order to pay his or her own salary before any additional money raised would begin to be available for our preservation work. This additional money plus the salary shortfall would presumably come from increased memberships, gifts, sales, advertising, or grants.

Augmenting the first four categories of income presents a serious challenge in itself, and anyone who has ever been involved in the grant process knows that they are difficult to obtain, are often limited as to time, and always come with strings attached. Is OCTA willing to surrender its budgetary independence and independence of actions to accommodate these strings?

It has been suggested that the National Park Service might be able and willing to partially fund a manager's salary. If so, wouldn't this present OCTA and the NPS with very serious conflict of interest possibilities?

The appearance of such a possible conflict of interest would certainly be strong, if nothing else. The legal mandates and the institutional policies and interests of the NPS (or any other federal agency) are not necessarily identical with OCTA's stated goals, nor should they be. What if the NPS is unable or unwilling to continue the funding? Are we willing to take the chance?

The second issue - raised indirectly by Bill Martin in his April, 2002 commentary, has to do with the present federal legislation before the U. S. Senate (Senate biIl 213).

It is to be taken for granted that we would all very much like to see the present legislation (already passed overwhelmingly by the House) made law. However, both Bill and Jeanne Watson, chairs of the Legislation Committee, as well as Nat. Preservation Officer, Dave Welch, have reported that senate spokespersons have stated that this important trail legislation is dead in this session of Congress (and perhaps forever) unless OCTA agrees to come to a private understanding with the gas and energy interests in Wyoming.

It is further my understanding that our national board has authorized a committee to undertake to determine if and how the two sides can work together. I see no problem with that -the normal process of compromise and cooperation is how our system of government is supposed to work -but I, for one, would like the OCTA membership to be informed of what this "understanding" might be before the board takes action on it.

It is not clear to me whether we are not being coerced into effectively agreeing to give the gas and energy interests more power over the process of historic preservation than they are entitled to under present federal law. Are we getting a level playing-field here, and, if so, what are the gas and energy interests conceding on their side?

I would also like to have an assessment of what those federal agencies which are responsible for planning and managing our nation's historic resources might be reading between the lines of any such understanding or agreement. Is the subtle - or not so subtle - message here that the commercial interests are now even more in the driver's seat when it comes to trail preservation decisions?

I don't believe that we should allow ourselves to be blackmailed (and I'm not at all sure at this point that this is blackmail) into conceding ground on preservation matters just to achieve trail additions which we do so very much want. I see such a course of action only coming back to haunt us and to hurt the cause of historic trails preservation at some future time.

Perhaps there is no such threat here -and that would be wonderful -but we should have the details in full before anything is finalized which we may ultimately come to regret.

Touring the trails, particularly the Black Rock Desert and High Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, gives one some sense of what those emigrating to the West underwent on their arduous journeys. But in our four-wheel drive vehicles, well insulated from the sun and unpleasant insects with sun block and insect repellent, we get only a faint impression of the pioneers' reality. Nonetheless by traveling the trails we can come to some understanding and appreciation of what those heroic men, women and children accomplished.

As I have oft repeated in earlier messages get involved, get the dust in your hair, in your ears, in your nose and feel the cruel sun on your shoulders, but before hopping back into your air-conditioned car and fleeing to the nearest air-conditioned motel pause for a few moments and think about those hardy souls who made such a great contribution to making this nation one that stretches from sea to shining sea.

In closing I would like to thank all for their support and understanding during the last three years, and there is no way I can start to list the names of everyone who has given me advice, counsel and support and who during those years have made such great contributions to OCTA. And special thanks for the messages and inquiries that we received after Bev's injury, and happily at this writing I can say she is doing well and proved it by going along some weeks back on a tour of the Black Rock Desert and High Rock Canyon NCA.

And, finally, all our membership can be assured that our incoming president Jim Allison will serve the Chapter with distinction.

Arrangements have been made for us to have our banquet at the historic Carson mansion now the private Ingomar Club - on the evening of Saturday, April 5. The Carson mansion is considered to be the most photographed Victorian gingerbread mansion in the United States, and it is not open to the public. It has been beautifully restored by the members, and is noted for its fine woods and exceptional stained glass windows. There will be tours of the interior prior to the banquet. This will be a once-in-a-life- time opportunity to experience one of this country's finest examples of Victorian architecture along with a very fine dining experience. There is a limit on capacity, so reservations will have to be taken on a first-come, first-serve basis when the time comes. Tom Hunt has been importuned not to sing Wagner's entire Ring of the Nibelung cycle in archaic German as he was wont to do, so it should turn out to be a very pleasant and memorable evening. (The symposium committee informed him that, if he did follow through on his threat, he would be singing the Cycle as a soprano and not as a basso profundo as contemplated.)

If enough members are interested in doing so, reservations will be made for participants to have the famous lumberjack breakfast at the Samoa Cookhouse on Sunday, April 6.

Each nomination must include a thorough description of why the nominee deserves to be honored. For a thorough explanation of why, please read page 19 of the October 2001 issue of TRAIL TALK. Please send your nominations to Tom Fee, CA-NV Awards Chair, P.O. Box 5819, Reno, Nevada 89513 or e-mail Tom at TomFee@aol.com In order for the Awards Committee to complete the selection process and to have time to prepare the awards, we need your nomination by July 15, 2002. Apologies for the timing of this announcement. This notice should have been in the April issue. Nominations received from you will be considered for the August 2002 Awards and for the Winter/ Spring 2003 Symposium Awards.

Join us on Saturday, October 12,2002 as a new interpretive sign is dedicated at the site. We will hear from former miners and residents of Mine Hill and the Hacienda, and good food and entertainment will be provided.

Contact:
Kitty Monahan (408) 268-6541
Virginia Hammerness (408) 269-6068

Another diarist, E. A. Spooner, refrained from attempting a description of the canyon, but said he would simply say: "it was the most horrible place that I ever saw a team drive through & had I not known that others had been there, should not believed the thing possible ."He spent a good half day getting the wagons over two miles of the road, using eight yoke of oxen to accomplish it. Among those who appreciated the very water that formed this difficult pass was John Pence, "I don't believe the most highly-concocted glass of alcoholic liquors ever compounded, gave the same plesure to the partaker as did a draught from those cold, limpid waters which came leaping down, over beds of white gravel, from the slowly melting snows of the summits of the mountain above." Carlton Jones speaks about the very narrow pass being filled up with the rocks of huge dimensions. He continues: "the water here rushes with all its maddened Jury over those rocks while its murmuring sound is heared [sic] far away in the mountains above[.]" The reader is given information about the walls of the canyon by Alpheus Newton Graham: "The mountains at each side of this narrow canyon at this place are 7 or 8 thousand feet high and nearly perpendicular. A perfect mass of rocks. In many places we drive over rocks three feet high. Sometitne[sj one ox is down, sometimes all, but we kept moving. About 4 of this 6 miles of this canyon is nothing but rocks, but the last half mile! O hush, for I shall not try to describe it but shut my eyes and make a black mark!" Apparently, it wasn't only humans who worried along the Carson Canyon. Eva S. Morse wrote: "Have passed over the Carson Canyon, the roughest road, I should think, ever passed by mortal man, saying nothing of the unaccountable bridges which the cattle were very much afraid of, and it was almost impossible to get them over. " She explained that because some of the team leaders slipped partly off the side of the bridge, they had to unhitch them and take each yoke over separately. Although they all got safely over, they were overtaken by dark before they got through the canyon, which made it especially worse. The following day, she looked back upon the previous day's travel and referred to "the awful-most awful and horrible Carson Canyon. " According to George Bonniwell, it was a "man-and-horsekilling " road. Many diarists described seeing dead horses and mules who had fallen from the rocks. Emigrants complained of the many streams that had to be crossed and the mud encountered, but Joseph Porter specifi- cally described a horse stuck in the mud-harness and all. What a colorful picture A. B. Bradley paints with his quaint phonetically spelled words. "we started this morning at 7 oclock travled over a sage sandey stoney roade till we came nere the entrance of the Kenion this dredid plase we enterd a bout 2 miles stopt under the shade of a large Pine thare is quite a large groath of timber here this tree whare se [we ] stopt for an our I would Judge to be 6 feete through a mediately after leving this point we amediatly crost cenyon creeck this streeme is in quite a fome dashing down over the Rocks through this pass so cald is a verry verry yea more worse than has ben told of it stones rocks piled up for hundreds of feet on ether side on the wildes confusion here we find numerous wagons smasht and broken " Another colorful writer, one who not only wrote in more detail, but who appreciated the beauty in spite of the difficulties encountered in that area, was G. C. Cone. ". ..turning to the right we pass the first, or lowest range of the Sierra Nevada Mountains through a gorge, called 'pass Kenyo 'or 'pass creek Kenyon- ' The road ( or rather where we go) is along a mad, and rushing stream, that leaps and tumbles among the most hetrogenious mass of rocks that I ever set eyes upon, much more at- tempted to drive a team over- This passage is not only rough, and difficult, but extreemley dangerous- In many places the mountain is steep, which with the rocks that have to be passed over; make it almost impossible to get along- The distance through this Kenyon is butfive miles; we entered it at half past two o'clock in the afternoon, and intended to get through before dark, but night has overtaken us while we are but little more than half way through- This kenyon is very narrow, and in many places the rocks on each side rise one, and two thousandfeet, making it one of the most frightful looking places on earth- In some places the sides are quite slopeing and are covered with gigantic pines, and fur trees- The trees are very tall, and I measured one that was twenty four feet in circumference- This is not an exception, most of them are of this size, and some are even larger- These giants of the forrest are destined to grow on their appointed time, then dwindle away, and fall to the ground to decay without contributeing one iota for the benefit of mankind; unless some weary emigrant should knock off some of their limbs to boil his coffee, or .fry his bacon- ...The reflection of the light from our fire upon the massive piles of rock that hang nearly over our heads, presents the most wild, yet beautiful pro[s]pect I ever beheld- It calls to mind the impressions of my earlier days after reading some wild legend of mountain life Our distance today is ten miles- " This description is confirmed by Henry T. Davis, who reported the Carson Canyon was barely wide enough for one wagon, and the trees among the perpendicular cliffs were reaching up their arms as if anxious to climb up where the rays of the sun could be beheld.

D. C. Dickinson puts another twist on the description of the road: "the road is awful there is nothing I can compare it to unless you take all the bad places you Ever saw and put them into one and.add two thirds for variations. ..we rolled our wagons through by hand as you pass over Each spot and look back you would not think it could be got over with wheels and I think the first man that tried to get a wagon from Carson valley to California was crazy " Upon coming out of the Carson Canyon and prior to reaching Hope Valley, Asenath Larimer wrote: "Well, we got through this Terrible, Curious, Strange, Interesting, Romantic place,. .." Her feelings were certainly torn between the negative and the positive! Because a paved road today relieves us of any chore in getting through the Carson Canyon, we are privileged to concentrate and absorb the beauty. Therefore, it is always a pleasure to read the diaries of those who took time to notice and record this beauty and grandeur. One example is Andrew Jackson Griffith. "Our travel today has been one of .intense interest, the wildest and most grand scenery I ever beheld. Mountains on either side towering almost to the clouds with cataracts rushing and thundering down their [mtns] sides. " He said it was the first time his eyes had been "relieved from the eternal plains. " Hope Valley and Red Lake gave blessed relief to the weary travelers, including the animals. It gave all a chance to recruit before tackling the next obstacles, namely -the first and second summits of the Sierra Nevada. An observation made by Cone from Hope Valley is one we all have discovered, that they were about to lose the beauty of the mountain scenery, as "Mountains to give a good outline, and symmetry of form should be seen at some distance- " In other words, the party was about to be swallowed up by the mountains.

G. C. Cone went on to record: " 'Reed Lake' is a small body ofwater situated in a smctll valley among the mountains- is about one mile in length, and about sixty rods in width, and is near the foot of the dividing ridge of the mighty Sierra Nevada- After stoping one hour we started on, and in less than two hours, had a full view of the greatest obsticle that has flung its [sic] acrost our path-way on the journey, to wit: the passage over the dividing ridge of the Sierra Nevada- " A little humor is noted by Carlton Jones: "we then came to Red lake a Small Lake on the mount isn't that rich a Lake on top of a mountain" David Dewolf (who called the Canyon "the infernalist place") camped at Red Lake and described what we, today, call the Devil's Ladder: "very steep crooked and rocky"... "had to take many things out of our wagons & pack them up the mountain on our loose oxen & our horses" In describing Devil's Ladder, the road that went straight up, William Rose said: "So steep did it appear that it looked as if the oxen would fall back on the wagons." To give a fair idea of the steepness, James Pritchard dramatizes the fall of a wheel: ". ..if a mule were thrown off or wagon & team they would fall from 50 to J 00 feet without touching anything. One of the party started the fore wheal [ sic jof a new wagon that had been left without the hind wheels down this mountain and after running several hundred yards it leaped from one large pile of stone to anothe1; and when it struck upon the last its velocity was so great, that it bounded with such force that it touched nothing for several hundred yards and in its erial flight it cleared the tops of some of the tallest Pine trees that grow upon the mountains- " Pritchard also explained the necessity of lifting the wagons around frequently and making a square tact to the right or left in order to ascend.

The reader not acquainted with Devil's Ladder and the ascent to the summit, can get some idea of what it is like from John s. Barker's diary. He tells of the violent end many had come to. "Much of the way the road is at an angle of 40 degrees, locked in on both sides with rocks and towering pines, while in the road, ever and anon, the wagon is brought full force against the square side of a granite block axle- tree high, with the horses at the same time exerting themselves to their utmost in surmounting others, or wallowing in the mire olan unavoidable slough." Dickinson continues in his vein of the craziness of crossing into California on this route: "after crossing the little valley you commence an ascent that looks like you were on a fools Errand for it seems impossible to Ever reach the top but by Eternal Perseverance you are up at this summit but look down and curse your Bad luck for you look across a little spot that you cannot avoid only to see before you an Eternal Pile of Rocks and deep snow that you must pass or die here from cold" Many, like Mendall Jewett, were not prepared for what lay ahead of them after they came out of the canyon. He wrote: "We thought that their could be no worse road than the Kanyon through which we had just passed but my stars it was no patching to this now before us. Put ropes on each side of the wagon one at a time and all the men that can get hold and after 3 hours hard toiling we failed to get up one wagon to the summit." It seems difficult to comprehend that "traffic" was heavy on this mountain road in the 1850's, but Jotham Newton was "detained by crowds of wagons of the mountain" Then, add deep snow to the struggle, which might be compared today to f911owing a snow plow in a long line of autos on Route 88-perhaps on icy pavement. As A. B. Bradley passed through the "perpetual snow" area of the summit, he said: "in one plase the wagon Road had wore a way th[r]ough a pass in the Snow to the depth of 15 feete we nere there encounterd a Snow storm acompened with Litnings & thunder" That was in 1850. On August 12 the same year, Harrison Mattoon encountered snow from 10 to 40 feet deep and Samuel Lane said the snow banks were 50 to 100 feet deep that year. Although Amasa Morgan traveled in 1849, he describes a similar experience: "we came in sight of one of the grandest mountains we had yet seen, where men climbed with wagons. I halted and asked my companion if he could , see those wagons and men up yonder in the snow. ' ...It was really a great sight to see them away up, almost in the clouds, on the snow at this time of year. .." However, he said he felt keen disappointment at having such a mountain yet to climb.

It was bitter cold going over the summit. Feel it in Dewolfs words: ". ..the wind blowing like the Devil in snow sometimes up to our knees & cold as blue blitzen " But then there was great satisfaction in attaining the summit as evidenced by Henry T. Davis. "Onward and upward we continued to climb, until we, too, passed the clouds, and at last stood upon the white rest of the most majestic mountain range on the American Continent. ..and still further on the blue waters of the Pacific rolled in endless succession their mighty billows. " Even with the clear atmosphere back then, he surely couldn't have seen the ocean, although Davis is not the only emigrant to claim having seen it. Feel the exhilaration D. C. Dickinson felt: "mighty God what a sight here you are on the top of the greatest pile of stone and Snow you Ever dreamed of lord the cold wind Blows you shiver with cold there is an appearance of Eternal winter all around it looks like January in Indiana" Was the struggle over, once the summit was achieved? Not for John Pence. He felt the descent over the snow was more wearisome than the ascent. So, what is the answer to the question: How difficult was it traveling on the Carson River Route? And was the venture worthwhile? There are always two sides of a coin. After his arrival, Reuben Knox wrote to his wife this word to the wise which may sum up the negative opinion: "You can never have any adequate conception of the exposures and hardships, difficulties and privations many have encountered on this route, and no one who has tried them once, if of sane mind, would ever be willing, under any circumstances, to encounter them again " On the other hand, Andrew Jackson Griffith, another 1850 traveler who passed through snow ten feet deep in going up to the summit, gives a more positive declaration. He perched himself "on the top of a monstrous rock which stands on the summit of the Sere Nevad Mountain" [possibly Bee Hive Rock?] "here we can read Poetry that throws Shakespear [sic] in the shade... Great and magnificent indeed are the works of the Creator I felt whilst sitting here on this rock as I never felt before. surrounded as I am by so much solemn grandur and magnificence I cannot help feeling my insig- nificance" This doesn't discount the irrefutable facts that the journey through the canyon and over the pass was indeed difficult, but undoubtedly, Griffith felt the prize was worth the effort and he probably represents a large percentage who felt the same.

I was flabbergasted when he attacked Tom Hunt and tried to write it off as sour grapes of some kind, and wrote him to take me off the mailing list.

This last attack shows what a small man he is.

In March of this year, I submitted a request for reimbursement of COED-related expenses. Dave Welch, former president of OCTA, now OCTA's Preservation Officer, refused to authorize the reimbursement, although it was not until May that I learned he had done so.

When I was finally informed of his refusal to authorize the reimbursement, Welch cited a request for information he had e-mailed me, to which I had not responded, and indicated that COED would be over budget for the year if the expenses came out of the COED budget. Welch also suggested that some COED expenses could be accounted for in a way that would let them not be charged to COED.

In April, our former treasurer, Marilyn Bryan, generated a report on COED expenses that clearly shows that COED would not be over budget if I were reimbursed for my expenses, even if, contrary to what Welch suggested, the COED expenses were actually charged to COED. So Welch was wrong about COED being over budget.

I feel that OCTA has a responsibility to reimburse its volunteers for legitimate out-of-pocket expenses. I feel that reimbursement of expenses should be made promptly and independently of questions such as how expenses might be recorded in OCTA's accounting system. I feel that questions about accounting issues should come from the treasurer. I most definitely feel that, if a request for reimbursement cannot be honored promptly, the volunteer making the request should be informed that the reimbursement was being delayed.

Much as I regret not being able to complete the NOP CD and Researcher's Tool programs, I simply cannot continue in a situation in which I may not be reimbursed for legitimate expenses I incur on behalf of OCTA.

I am very much saddened by this. The NOP CD program had just a few days work left before it was com- pleted. I could have completed a test version of the Researcher's Tool in two or three months. Although it would have taken additional time to thoroughly test the Researcher's Tool program, I am confident it could have seen its first release in about a year.

I hope all the wonderful people I have worked with over the past 16 years I have been involved with COED will understand why I cannot continue. As personally rewarding as completion of the COED programs would have been, knowing the people on the COED team has made my effort worth while.

Kathy Roubal, too, has resigned as COED chair. She joins me in conveying thanks for a lot of good years with the COED team.

A COED workshop is on the agenda of the coming convention in Reno. At that workshop, I will demonstrate the COED Researcher's Tool program I was developing, to give people a feel for the potential of COED.

I would pleased if you would stop by the workshop, so I can thank you for the many good years we have had together.

OCTA's board of directors will meet on Tuesday, August 13, at the Nevada State office of the Bureau of Land Management, in Reno. A genera! membership meeting will take place on Wednesday, as part of the convention's opening activities.

The general membership meeting is typically just a formality. It is necessary to allow the membership present at the meeting to ratify the election of new board members, since the ballots never represent a majority of OCTA members. The general membership meeting also presents the new board members and officers. Occasionally, some other item of OCTA business must be conducted at the general membership meeting as well.

The real business will take place at the board meeting on Tuesday. It is at the board meetings -the ones at the convention and the mid-year board meetings -that the board of directors sets the course of your organization.

The theme of this year's convention is "What Lies Ahead on the Trails?" This is OCTA's 2Oth convention. What lies ahead for our trails is, to a large part, determined by the board of directors. Those of you who will be coming to the convention are, in the most part, the active members of the organization. I very strongly urge you to go to the board meeting on Tuesday, listen to the board members and officers, learn about what is happening, and let the board know what you feel about the items of business before them.

In the years before Randy Wagner became president, it was made very clear that members' presence at board meetings was not re- ally wanted. Randy seems to be more willing to hear what OCTA members have to say. Certainly, every member has a right to be heard at any board meeting, on any item the board is discussing.

Of course, there are practical limitations. Members must understand that the board must complete a lot of business at board meetings and that discussion of the issues is for the board. Board members must be willing to hear what members think about important issues, but members must accept that the business of the board must be completed, and must respect constraints of time.

One of the most difficult responsibilities of the president is to chair the board meetings in a way that allows the board to hear from mem- bers who are present while ensuring that the required business is conducted. Members who attend board members meetings must recognize that they bear a responsibility to make it possible for the president to do his very difficult job of running the meeting.

What issues will be before the board in August? In his "From the President ..." column in the April issue of News From the Plains, Randy Wagner reported that the board would take up the issue of an "Association Manager." Personally, I think that is one of the most important issues that any of OCfA' s boards of directions have had before them. Considering the convention theme, this particular issue will do more than anything else to determine, for OCTA, "What's Ahead on the Trails?"

The board has been considering the idea of an Association Manager for a couple of years. Randy described the position in the April News From the Plains; you all should refer to his description.

I think employing an Association Manager will effectively end OCTA's productiveness as a preservation organization. Certainly it will change the nature of the organization very dramatically.

What Randy didn't include in his discussion of the position was, "How is OCTA going to pay an Association Manager?" Randy did say that the Association Manager's job would de- pend on his or her "growing" OCTA. Practically, the primary responsibility of the Association Manager's job would be to raise enough money to pay his or her own salary. Thus the organization would be managed by someone whose first interest, quite naturally, was to get paid.

I have also heard that half of the Association Manager's salary would be paid by the US Park Service, although I am not sure that is true. (The board has held all discussions of the Association Manager in secret executive sessions, although that is not a proper use of executive sessions.)

OCTA's finances have not been very good recently, and the board has voted to take money out of the organization 's endowment fund to cover operating expenses. Certainly, the issue of how anAssociation Manager could be paid is a very important issue.

If it is true that half of the salary would be paid by the Park Service, that would make OCTA very much dependent on the Park Service. What would that do to our preservation efforts, most of which consist of try- ing to convince the BLM, Forest service -or the Park Service -to not do something or to not approve something that would destroy the trails?

How can OCTA maintain the independence from the government that is essential to our trails preservations effort when half of OCTA's manager's salary comes from the government?

OCTA's preservation efforts are always an issue before the board. I hope you all read Bill Martin 's report, "Possible Progress Reported On Trails Legislation," in the April News From the Plains. There, Bill reported that OCTA's board of directors agreed to "work with industry representatives and government agencies, within existing rules, in the interests of protecting the trails." The "industry representatives" here is the Pe- troleum Association of Wyoming. I really don't think the oil companies need OCTA's help.

Obviously, OCTA must work with all interests in the most possible positive way, but- if OCTA is to live up to its objective of preserving the trail -we shouldn't be selling out to the oil companies or anyone. And we did sellout.

Imagine the scenario: Our OCTA preservation officer meets with the BLM to ask that a proposed pipeline be rerouted to avoid destruction of the trail. Then the oil company representative meets with the BLM, with OCTA's letter in hand, and says, "We want the pipeline where we proposed it to be. OCTA agreed to work with us, so they have no right to ask that we relocate it." The BLM has to weigh the needs of the oil company against the need to protect the trail. The agreement weakens our position. The oil company is quite capable of defending their own interests without OCTA's help. We sold out.

What did we get in return? The oil company and some Western Senators agreed to drop their opposition to legislation that would designate more trails as National Historic Trails.

That legislation is important, but a National Historic Trail designation does not protect the trail. We sold out for something that has almost no real value when it comes to protection of any part of any trail.

Is OCTA reall y interested in protecting the trails? The trend recently has been to avoid doing anything that might upset anyone. In my preservation activities, I always found I got more respect by being firm in my objectives of protecting the trail. One can be firm in one's objectives without being aggressive and demanding. Can we get respect, and can we be effective in our effort to protect the trails when our objective is to not offend anyone?

OK, I've given you my opinion. Now its your turn. Come to the board meeting. Let the board know where you stand on the important issues the board is facing. OCTA is your organization -at least it is i/you choose to participate.

I'm looking forward to seeing you in Reno. I'll be the guy in the straight jacket, sitting in the corner muttering. Actually, I'll be the guy sitting around in the convention center, complaining because all those "other people" are out there being tour guides, having all the fun, while I'm stuck with "hanging around."

Come have fun with us in Reno.

Send questions regarding the CA-NV Chapter to:

Jerry Dwyer

webmaster@canvocta.org