Letter From the President
Lew Apgar
Howdy folks, this is the club founder here in the first of a regular column where we try to answer questions about what is going on in the hiking club. It appears that more people then just me are getting excited about the upcoming hiking season. We have had a lot of people express interest in our longer trips and have heard an outcry for more short trips.

We wanted to have the dates for the longer trips first so that people would have plenty of time to let their bosses know "I gotta take a Hike". We will schedule shorter hikes at the meetings and throughout the summer. Other plans include arranging trail days activities, and working with state and federal agencies to improve local trails.

American Hiking Society and FAHC 

A few people have been wondering what our relationship is to the American Hiking Society (AHS), so I thought I would try to clear that up and plug AHS a little. The American Hiking Society is a national organization dedicated to serving hikers and protecting the nation's hiking trails. They are a watchdog for federal legislation that affects hikers. Also they help keep smaller local clubs like us, informed about what is going on nationally and in other locals. It has really helped us getting started to be able to look at what other hiking clubs do and how they are organized. Our hiking club is a member of an alliance of organizations whose focus are foot-trails. 

 Organizations in the alliance share information and work together on public policy. As a group we have more political power. As a member of the alliance we:

· Receive a regular alliance newsletter 

· Can voice our concerns through AHS lobbyists to capitol hill 

· Have access to post current club projects on their web page 

· Gain eligibility for a grant (they give away about $60,000 a year to a dozen clubs) P.S. I'm looking for someone to apply for this grant for us 

· Have potential for one of their volunteer crews to come up and work on our trails (the BLM makes use of these crews every other year on the Pinnell trail) 

· Access lots of other information about hiking (the Health benefits of hiking article, in the last newsletter, was summarized from an AHS update). 

The American Hiking Society also has individual memberships and as an alliance member the cost is discounted to only eight dollars annually. Our Membership in the alliance costs 50 dollars annually. If you want to learn more about AHS check out their web page at www.americanhiking.org or give me a call.