Announcements/Business:
- PEACHES: Ordering information is on our website and emails were sent. Orders are coming in at a quick pace. You can order your peaches by simply clicking HERE!
- Next week the morning meeting will be our annual Foundation meeting and there will be an evening meeting. See our website calendar, https://rotaryconifer.org/events/calendar, for changes in the meeting dates and special events.
- Our Change of the Guard event will be July 7 at Dean and Lenore McCall’s home. It will be an appetizer-potluck, which includes cake.
- The Pleasant Park road clean-up last Saturday was very successful. Thanks to Mark and Judy Rehm, Craig and Donna Kubik, Lee Willis and Cara Camping, Pat Hagan, Lesley and Tom Landon, Diana Phelps, and Barry Schwartz.
- The next Board meeting will be July 17, 6pm at the McCall home. All are welcome
- Dean shared the members of his proposed 2019-20 Board; approved by the meeting members today.
- Marlis McAllister will be our club President after Dean.
Program:: Friends of Mt. Evans and Lost Creek Wilderness (FOMELC)
Peter Vrolik
Peter Vrolik, FOMELC President, joined us today to talk about their organization. His first topic was to thank us for supporting FOMELC at the Foothills Home, Garden and Lifestyle Show this year. The show organizer discontinued special pricing for non-profits and our club stepped in to pay the fee for FOMELC.
The FOMELC volunteers cover a huge area. Mt. Evans Wilderness has over 74 thousand acres and 120 miles of trails, and Lost Creek Wilderness has just under 120 thousand acres and 130 miles of trails. Peter went on to explain that wilderness areas are protected Federal Lands by the Wilderness Act of 1964. No mechanized items are allowed in these areas: no bicycles, chain saws, etc. The goal is to retain the primeval character of the land without permanent effects from humans. The Forest Service has oversight and care for the Wilderness areas because they are part of our National Forest land.
Friends of Mt. Evans and Lost Creek Wilderness is a volunteer organization with about 80 members. Their efforts provide support to the Forest Service, providing education, trail assessment and maintenance, invasive weed species eradication. In 2018, they worked were 4596 volunteer hours. All of the Mt. Evans 23 Wilderness trails and the 13 Lost Creek trails were patrolled---with identification of many issues then reported to the Forest Service. Eradicating invasive weeds involved 1300 hours of volunteer work in 2018 alone.
Anyone with a love and appreciation for our local forest treasures is welcome to join. check them out at FOMELC.org.