Kimmy
10-21-2004, 10:42 AM
Hi folks!
I thought I better get an e-mail out to you to introduce mayself and let you
know that I'm the new kid on the block replacing Tom Murley since he has moved
on to State Parks. I've been on the job just over 2 weeks. Although I'm not
new to DNR, I am new to the public use and recreation arena of the agency, so I
have a lot to learn. One thing I do know is that even though the area I'm
responsible for includes the south half of the region down to King County, one
of the most important areas is Walker Valley and the people that use and enjoy
the ORV site. So I plan on spending a large part of my time focused on Walker
Valley.
A couple things you are probably already aware of but I thought I should
mention: We have two fairly significant grants for Walker Valley to keep moving
forward on (one maintenance and one capital improvements). There is a little
over a year on the lifetime for these grants. If you have been to WV lately you
may have noticed a couple of DNR crews working on the trails. One of these
folks is Rick Foster. Rick is our on-the-ground person mainly involved in the
capital improvement work. Rick has a 4-person crew that is funded by the grant.
He and I do a lot of checking in with each other. As Mike Dolfay put it 'we
are darned lucky to have Rick on the ground!'. Josh Kelley, who is also very
familiar with the trail system, has moved into Rick's old job until March
running the WCC (Washington Conservation Corp) crew that is doing some of the
maintenance grant work on WV. I want to thank Rick and Christ Thomsen for
helping me get on my feet with Walker Valley (I'm not standing yet) and I'm
going to need your help and the other users and user groups to get me up to
speed on all the history and needed work. Feel free to contact me (e-mail is
best) with any needed work on the trails as you run across it.
We also have a sign project that was originally initiated by Northern Toys 4WD
Club. This project was rolled into the capital improvement grant that we are
currently working on. As I understand it, this grant will require a combined
effort using volunteers. I'm hoping to meet with the various user groups to
figure out the best approach to installing signs in the right places. We are
doing some signing right now, but the lion's share needs a coordinated plan with
the user groups.
So the next thing I would like to do is to meet with the user groups. I
believe there was an advisory committee put together and I would like to get
something like that going again. I will be contacting you through a list I
inherited of group contacts, if you were on that group send me an e-mail and
give me some history on it.
Last but not least, I wanted to mention that I am committed to doing whatever I
can to improve the Walker Valley ORV Park for the enjoyment of those that use it
and to do it in a manner that respects the fact there are adjacent neighbors and
that it is located in a working forest.
Thank you and see you on the trails soon! Jim
I thought I better get an e-mail out to you to introduce mayself and let you
know that I'm the new kid on the block replacing Tom Murley since he has moved
on to State Parks. I've been on the job just over 2 weeks. Although I'm not
new to DNR, I am new to the public use and recreation arena of the agency, so I
have a lot to learn. One thing I do know is that even though the area I'm
responsible for includes the south half of the region down to King County, one
of the most important areas is Walker Valley and the people that use and enjoy
the ORV site. So I plan on spending a large part of my time focused on Walker
Valley.
A couple things you are probably already aware of but I thought I should
mention: We have two fairly significant grants for Walker Valley to keep moving
forward on (one maintenance and one capital improvements). There is a little
over a year on the lifetime for these grants. If you have been to WV lately you
may have noticed a couple of DNR crews working on the trails. One of these
folks is Rick Foster. Rick is our on-the-ground person mainly involved in the
capital improvement work. Rick has a 4-person crew that is funded by the grant.
He and I do a lot of checking in with each other. As Mike Dolfay put it 'we
are darned lucky to have Rick on the ground!'. Josh Kelley, who is also very
familiar with the trail system, has moved into Rick's old job until March
running the WCC (Washington Conservation Corp) crew that is doing some of the
maintenance grant work on WV. I want to thank Rick and Christ Thomsen for
helping me get on my feet with Walker Valley (I'm not standing yet) and I'm
going to need your help and the other users and user groups to get me up to
speed on all the history and needed work. Feel free to contact me (e-mail is
best) with any needed work on the trails as you run across it.
We also have a sign project that was originally initiated by Northern Toys 4WD
Club. This project was rolled into the capital improvement grant that we are
currently working on. As I understand it, this grant will require a combined
effort using volunteers. I'm hoping to meet with the various user groups to
figure out the best approach to installing signs in the right places. We are
doing some signing right now, but the lion's share needs a coordinated plan with
the user groups.
So the next thing I would like to do is to meet with the user groups. I
believe there was an advisory committee put together and I would like to get
something like that going again. I will be contacting you through a list I
inherited of group contacts, if you were on that group send me an e-mail and
give me some history on it.
Last but not least, I wanted to mention that I am committed to doing whatever I
can to improve the Walker Valley ORV Park for the enjoyment of those that use it
and to do it in a manner that respects the fact there are adjacent neighbors and
that it is located in a working forest.
Thank you and see you on the trails soon! Jim