Announcements/Business:
The program in two weeks will focus on our fire department, including information and next week we will learn about our tax notices and what they reveal about where our money goes and how TABOR and Gallagher affect the financing of our special Districts. Bring your JeffCo Property Tax Notice next week to learn where your tax money goes. Chief Bill McLaughlin will talk about the issues facing the fire Department.
The Board report from President Janine:
- We have a new slate of officer applicants that we will vote on this month.
- Wes agreed to be President-elect, although since he was recently President he will relinquish if another member is interested and able to step into the position. He will continue as Chair of the Club Foundation.
- We need a new Rotary International Foundation Chair.
- Hugh is requesting a new person to replace him as Chair for the evening meetings.
- Cathy Taylor: treasurer
- Marlis McAllister: Secretary
- Charles Harrison and Charlotte Wytias: co-chair the Membership Committee
- Amy Baker: Youth Services Chair.
- Lesley Landon: Community Service Chair
- Pat : International Service Chair
- Suzanne will be RYLA chair
- Mark Rehm: Fund-raising Chair
Rotary announcements:
- The Club Foundation will have its annual meeting and election for Board membership by June. The Board will elect a Chair once formed.
- Beaver Ranch will offer their site to Rotary for a music festival fundraiser. In addition to music we plan to have vendors, food trucks and beer, which will be held August 15, 2020. More information to come!
- Run the Ranch will be June 1, at Beaver Ranch to support the Interact Club at Conifer HS for their Nepal trip summer 2020.
- Lee Willis received his Paul Harris award, plus two! Congratulations and thank you.
Program: Dinosaur Ridge, Erin LaCount
Erin LaCount joined us today to share her enthusiasm for the Friends of Dinosaur Ridge. The organization works with Jefferson County Open Space to maintain this 150 million year old site. They don't own the land, they just supervise its use as caring custodians of this paleontologic site. Friends has been in existence for 30 years, founded by Dick Scott in April 25, 1989.
Their mission is to educate the public about, and ensure the preservation of the natural and historic resources of Dinosaur Ridge, Triceratops Trail and surrounding areas. There are several areas of dinosaur tracks and bones along a four-mile long ridge.
The current history of the area began in 1877 when Mr. Arthur Lakes, a paleontologist, was engaged to find and excavate dinosaur sites. In 1938, the Work Progress Administration was building Red Rocks Park and they discovered fossils and dinosaur tracks. The Denver Museum of Natural History came to survey the tracks and gathered bones that are in the Museum.
There was little activity at the site until March 1989 when Martin Lockley led tours to study and set up preservation efforts. In 1993, money became available to start construction projects to stabilize the area and create visitor walk-ways. They have since built stairs to give easy access to bone sites and now have an educational/viewing area. There are 335 identified foot prints so far. Their site is popular among tourists, partly because it is close to downtown Denver. In the past 10 years, the annual visitor count has gone from around 25,000 to 235,173!
Future plans are for Rooney Road to be re-routed to allow for a formal parking area and a new visitor center, track site cover and other enhancements. The roadway will have designated bike lanes and a dedicated walkway. There will be picnic areas, and hiking trails as well.
The Friends of Dinosaur Ridge has many fundraising events to raise funds for maintaining their current visitor center and to help build future resources. They need more volunteers, with many options for helping both with the public and behind the scenes. The Friends do adult field trips: Wild Wanderers go to many areas in our region. More information is on the website: http://dinoridge.org