Friends of Wachusett Mountain is a non-profit group dedicated to conservation,
environmental education and land stewardship at Wachusett Mountain.

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Minutes & Reports 2006

For more information, please e-mail scott@friendsofwachusett.org.

Current year minutes & reports can be found here: 2007

December 11, 2006 Meeting Minutes

Prepared by: Scott Smyers
Location: Wachusett Mountain Ski Area, Princeton
Attendance: Scott Smyers, Ginny Metevia, Dave Goguen, Jim Samdahl, Doug Williams, Tom Meyers, and Deb Cary

Topics:

We discussed the pros and cons of organizing an activity on Wachusett Mountain. Scott S. had contacted an expert on fungi who had agreed to lead a winter ecology hike focusing on fungi. After discussions with DCR staff it turns out that it would not work due to the need to wander off trails. This is not the type of public activity that can be advocated by the DCR. So our future activities should stay on trails. The good news is that we can coordinate something with DCR and Friends of Wachusett Mountain (FWM) that occurs during normal reservation hours, is free to the public, and stays on the trails. We decided we should keep our first activity simple, go for a nature hike using a less strenuous trail. Maybe a winter snowshoe event?

We had more discussion on the Educational pamphlet. The volunteers from FWM thought we could help with the ecological and geologic component and possibly some historical information. The pamphlet could also be converted to a .pdf and downloaded through our website.

Dave G. presented additional information on the revised design for phase 1 of the vestibule and will meet with DCR staff to discuss how we can move this forward.

Through a series of events, the Princeton Municipal Light and Electric Department has agreed to cover the costs of installing a weather station at the summit of the mountain. The idea is to use existing structure for any attachments (no more towers) and to have the data available to general public. The University of Massachusetts at Lowell, Department of Earth and Atmospheric Science has donated a weather station for this specific use and has agreed to provide consultation during the installation and manage the data so it is available to the general public through the Internet. There are still a number of steps that must be taken until this actually happens, but we agreed that weather is something that everyone can relate to and would be interesting to the public.

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November 13, 2006 Meeting Minutes

Prepared by: Scott Smyers
Location: Wachusett Mountain Ski Area, Princeton
Attendance: Scott Smyers, Ginny Metevia, Mary Trostel, Lou Trostel, Jim Samdahl, Dave Goguen, Tom Meyers

Topics:

Reviewed Form 1023 for Non Profit Status, which is now complete in draft form. Organized lists of other forms and paperwork needed to file along with Form 1023, including Articles of Organization and Employee ID #. Need to find out more about the $750 filing fee.

Delegated Articles of Organization to Jim S.

Discussed status of Vestibule Design = concept design done, Dave G. will work on final design of phase 1 (building the foundation/parapet walls)

Tom Meyers discussed how the Friends of Wachusett could contribute to educational brochures currently being produced by the ski area. We agreed this would be a good opportunity to educate visitors about Wachusett's ecology and history.

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November 2006 Status Update

On 10/2/06 we met to go over the bylaw once again and made some good progress on revising it. Since then Corey Burnham-Howard (our volunteer attorney) has provided additional recommendations, which we incorporated for the most part (thank you Corey). Basically, the Bylaws are nearly DONE!

We had an uncharacteristic daytime meeting on 10/20/06 where we worked on the bylaw a bit more, and the Conflict of Interest Policy, but mostly worked on Form 1023. The great news is we completed the entire form. Maybe it isn't in its final version for the government, but it is a lot closer than it ever has been.

We also discussed liability insurance issues that we will likely have to deal with in the near future. It really doesn't seem like that big of a deal IF we can come up with $500-$1,000 per year. I still believe that sounds like too much, but if we want to do this correctly, we may not have a choice.

And yes, we are still trying to move forward with actual projects and environmental research. Thanks to David Goguen, we have a preliminary design for a vestibule for the John Hitchcock Visitor Center. This would be a needed improvement to keep folks out of the weather and to increase the heat efficiency of the building. Plus, it would be a very visible item that could give the Friends of Wachusett Mountain some publicity. The great thing about Dave's design is that it can be constructed in phases, therefore cutting costs and not moving too fast for state approval.

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2006 Board of Directors Meeting Recap

We plowed ahead through LOTS of the proposed bylaws that Scott will email around for our comments. We decided we needed another such meeting to complete the bylaws "wordsmithing review," and will schedule a followup meeting soon.

Also, Dave presented some great drawings for the Vestibule that we will probably be posting on the website soon once he and Dwayne have worked out a few items so it is a.o.k. with the DCR. The drawings look great and I'm really excited about this project and I sensed everyone else saw the possible PR from this tangible product.

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March 2006 Meeting Recap

The March meeting was another good step forward. We thank Emily Norton from the Friends of Willard Brook for her advice and recommendations. She had a lot of great points that we are looking forward to implementing. If you are interested, Friends of Willard Brook have a meeting on April 6 where someone from the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) will be discussing partnerships between Friends groups and state land management through DCR. This topic is very applicable to our relationship with DCR at Wachusett Mountain. Check out willardbrook.org or contact Emily for more information: emily@willardbrook.org It would be great to have one or more people representing Friends of Wachusett Mountain attend the meeting.

We also had some good discussions on moving forward with forming a Board of Directors. Thanks to all of you who volunteered to help steer the ship! We need to get this paperwork done and submitted.

Another project that we discussed was the design and construction of a vestibule off the main entrance to the Hitchcock Visitor's Center. If anyone has any experience in framing and/or roofing please let us know. Furthermore, if anyone has building materials to donate such as windows or lumber, that could certainly help get things moving with a simple and highly visible project.

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February 2006 Meeting Recap

For those of you who couldn't attend in February, it was quite productive. We discussed some ongoing research about spotted salamanders on Wachusett and made priority lists of some projects and what has to take place next to get the non-profit status official. One of the projects that we need your help with is the self-guided map of Wachusett. Send us a brief description of your favorite spots to point out. So far, we have a grand total of ZERO contributions, so this is your chance to get in on the ground floor!

Current year minutes & reports can be found here: 2007

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Special Thanks To

Please click the link above or check out our Friends of Friends page.

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Friends of Wachusett Mountain Contact Information: P.O. Box 301, Princeton, MA 01541.
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