A Message from FOS President Ann
Bennett:
A total of 24 volunteers and board
members attended the Jan 11th Friends of Shimek (FOS) Annual Meeting
held at Little Mexico in Mt. Pleasant.
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| At the FOS dinner, Forester John Byrd and President Ann Bennett, standing. |
Doug and Bonnie
Moothart were recognized as the Bennett Volunteers of the Year for
2013. Doug kicked off the year in Jan of 2013 by donating
$100 toward the purchase of blaze orange safety vests.
Debbie Miller researched and ordered the vests for volunteers to wear
on work days so they are highly visible and trail riders know why
someone is out on a 4 wheeler in the timber or working with a
chainsaw. Many individuals purchased their own vests in
addition to the 10 vests ordered as loaners on work days.
No FOS treasury dollars were spent on the vests. Bonnie
started a Facebook group called Eastern Iowa Trail Riders and she
keeps that group informed about work days and encourages trail riders
to respect trail closures. The Facebook group is closed and you
apply to be admitted to eliminate spam. The group is up to 750
members and Bonnie uses the forum to help educate trail riders,
recruit help on work days and solicit donations. Doug can
operate any kind of equipment and donated the use of his 4 wheeler,
chainsaw and other tools. He and Bonnie both spread rock,
worked on the de-construction of the old horse shelter, and helped
build new stalls inside the new horse shelter. They both
assisted on three unscheduled work days to see the completion of the
jobs, donating a total of 78 volunteer work hours. They were
presented with a hand turned spalted elm bowl, hand crafted and
donated by Bob Achenbach.
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| Doug and Bonnie Moothart, Bennett Volunteers of the Year, and Ann Bennett admire the bowl made by Bob Achenbach |
Marsha Achenbach was nominated by the
FOS Board of Directors (BOD) and selected as the “Trail Warrior”
to be featured in the magazine Trail Blazer in the Jan/Feb 2014 issue
for her diligent efforts scouting the Shimek Forest trails, keeping
the Shimek State Forester informed about hazards, advising the FOS
board about trail markings and maintenance and working on both work
days and her riding days to prune back multi-floral rose, clear
trails with a walk behind mower, clean out firepits, clean up tie
rails and stalls that are left dirty, pick up redeemable cans,
recyclables and trash. She was presented a framed collage of
her work at Shimek.
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| Marsha Achenbach -- our very own Trail Warrior -- and her husband Bob |
An astounding 47 volunteers donated 841
hours in 2013 to improve the trails and campgrounds and to promote
care of our natural resources in Shimek. Volunteers often
brought their own equipment and tools to do the work, from tractors
to drills and saws. All volunteers donating 8 hours or more of time
received an embroidered Friends of Shimek State Forest Volunteer
iron-on patch and a Thank You for their work. Donors and volunteers
donating up to 7 hours received Thank You cards showing a collage of
the work being done by FOS in 2013. Lora Conrad designed and she and
Ray Conrad donated the iron on patches and cards awarded to
volunteers and donors. No dollars were spent from the FOS
treasury to fund the awards. This is consistent with the
promise by the FOS Board to donors that 100% of donations goes for
campground and trail improvements. (The badges and photo
card thank yous will be mailed out to those unable to attend the
annual meeting.)
Two grants were funded and
completed in 2013 that benefited the equestrian campgrounds and
trails of the Lick Creek Unit of Shimek State Forest. Every
grant took significant co-operation, volunteer labor and DNR labor.
$10,000 worth of road rock was solicited by a Pathfinders RC&D
grant written by Katy Anderson for 3.1 miles of the hard surface wet
weather trail and funded by the William M. and Donna J. Hoaglin
Foundation. Construction of a new 8 stall, roofed, horse
shelter at the Lower Campground was funded with a grant from the Lee
County Charitable Fund for $4000, with another $1500 in cash
donations from Friends of Shimek for a total cost of $5500.
Lora Conrad wrote the grant for the horse shelter. Director at
Large Ringo Covert and Shimek State Forest Advisor John Byrd worked
out legal requirements, bid proposal and solicitation, awarded the
bid, and provided oversight on the construction of the roofed pole
building. Volunteers and Shimek State Forest employees tore
down the old shelter and built stalls in the new building with rough
cut oak lumber from the Iowa Forestry Bureau.
Shimek State Forester John Byrd was
recognized with a letter of commendation to the Director of Iowa DNR
from the FOS BOD for his willingness to support the equestrian
communities efforts and act as the Friends of Shimek Advisor. To
quote from the letter: In
all this effort, John has been the steady, guiding hand with the
skills to work with people of all ages and interests in a way that
earns their respect and appreciation and yet keeps control of what is
done and assures that it is safe and useful. He has been a key part
of fostering a team spirit amongst the volunteers and developing
pride in our group and its role. John takes the initiative to see
that we get our tasks completed.
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| Lora Conrad presents the letter of commendation from the Board of Directors to John Byrd. (photo by Bonnie Moothart) |
The FOS Board and Forester John Byrd
have planned a Shimek Education Day on Sat, Mar 22, 9am to noon.
Meet John at the Shimek State Forest headquarters building in
Farmington, Iowa and learn more about forestry practices,
conservation and how we can all help assure that the equestrian
trails stay open and enjoyable to ride.
Work days scheduled for 2014 are:
May 14, July 12, Aug 20 and Sept 20. Details will be posted on
the FOS Blog Calendar. We hope to see you there!
Kicking off fund raising in 2014 to
raise monies to go toward additional improved facilities at Shimek
was a $300 donation from Iowa Trail Rider’s Association, $100 from
Pam Larson, and $100 from Kenny Hartman. Donations may be
sent to Friends of Shimek, attention Debbie Miller, Lee County Bank
and Trust, 2501
Avenue L, Fort
Madison, Iowa 52627.
Friends of Shimek board members and
officers re-elected to serve in 2014 are as follows: President
Ann Bennett, Vice President Marsha Achenbach, Treasurer Debbie
Miller, Secretary and Editor Lora Conrad, Directors at Large Neal
Hartman and Ringo Covert. Shimek State Forester John Byrd
serves as the Advisor for Friends of Shimek. Thank you to
the Advisor, Officers and Board Members for all your time and talent
to attend meetings, plan, brain storm, organize and lead work days,
and represent responsible leadership and a can do attitude.
John Byrd mentioned that Friends of Shimek is the only Friends group
in the Forestry Division and the success of this Friends group is
noticed. Friends of Shimek will be represented at the
Iowa Horse Fair and Equestrian Soft Trails Conference on April 4th at
the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines on a panel discussion about
Friends Groups – What Works and What Doesn’t.
We know what makes Friends of Shimek a
success – EVERY ONE OF YOU - volunteers, advisor, board members and
donors that give of your time, talent and resources. THANK
YOU!
President Ann Bennett received the following e-mail from Linda King, Volunteer Coordinator at DNR:
I
really appreciate the invitation, unfortunately I won’t be able to attend to
celebrate your success. Please extend to your group my heartfelt thanks
for all you are doing at Shimek to help John improve our forests. Without
volunteers like you helping us carry out our mission our agency would be at a
great loss.
Blessings
to you all in the New Year! – Linda
LINDA
KING
Volunteer
Coordinator
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Iowa
Department of Natural Resources
502
East 9th Street | Des Moines, IA 50319
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Leading
Iowans in Caring for Our Natural Resources.
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