"Kudos!" from President Ann Bennett

First of all, many Thanks to Forester John Byrd and his crew for the construction of the second horse shelter in the lower campground. They took time to take down the old shelter, get the materials, and construct the shelter shell despite their heavy schedule in other parts of the forest at this time. We volunteers will be installing the walls and gates before the 4^th of July weekend, weather permitting. We will then have two new roofed shelters with a total of 16 horse stalls for use by campers. Excellent progress toward updating our facilities! We are now seeking grant funds and individual donations to construct the third and final horse shelter at the upper campground.

We have been pleased to see two of our FOS Volunteers recognized by Trailblazer magazine this year---Marsha Achenbach was honored as a Trail Warrior for her Friends of Shimek work in the Jan/Feb issue and Doug Moothart was honored as a Trail Warrior in the April issue for his work at Brinton Timber. Both volunteer many hours to improve the facilities available for trail riders and to support other trail riders in their activities. The dedication they have for the job is what makes organizations like FOS possible.

This week subscribers began getting their latest issue (July/August) of DNR's publication Iowa Outdoors. This issue features the article we have been waiting to see by Mindy Kralicek and photographer Clay Smith—remember last August when we met them for a work day and a ride? To subscribe, see http://www.iowadnr.gov/Recreation/IowaOutdoorsMagazine.aspx

Thanks to Mindy and Clay for the excellent article.

Special thanks to Denise Schieffer for including both the May FOS update re Biosecurity and the Wet Weather Trail information in full in the ITRA June Newsletter --- both are information that trail riders needs to read and the ITRA newsletter reaches many of those riders.

When it comes to social media---Bonnie Moothart is a whiz---her monitored, closed group facebook page, Eastern Iowa Trail Riders, reaches over a thousand trail riders. She has kindly listed links to our FOS blog on topics ranging from Biosecurity, the Wet Weather Trail to scheduled work days. Lora reports a jump in blogspot access each time she does this---as it does when the links are published in the ITRA newsletter. Both expand greatly our reach of information to the “right” people – potential equestrian trail riders at Shimek State Forest.

We are also pleased to announce that Lora Conrad was selected for a 2014 Individual Governor's Volunteer Award by DNR Forestry for her outstanding commitment and service to Shimek State Forest through FOS. Forester John Byrd submitted the nomination which required the endorsement of the Forestry Department. A full description of these awards can be found at: http://www.volunteeriowa.org/Organizations/ICVSPrograms/GovernorsVolunteerAwards.aspx

This award will be presented during one of several state volunteers recognition ceremonies. It will be among those awards presented Friday, June 20 at 10:00AM at the Indian Hills Community College St. John Auditorium in Ottumwa. Lora will be present to receive the award. Anyone interested in attending is invited to join us there and to have lunch after the award ceremony at the Appanoose Rapids Brewery and Restaurant on main street in Ottumwa. Drop me an e-mail if you can join us there.

The Kudos for our volunteers keep piling up----and I know I have not thought of all---but wanted to let you know about some of the recognition that our volunteers, FOS and the DNR Shimek crew have garnered this year. Congratulations to all of you and thanks for your enthusiasm for Friends of Shimek.

Ann Bennett

FOS President  
windrushhill@farmtel.net