President's Logbook

Article and Photo By Jim Fetig

As summer closes out, your club officers are busy building next year’s budget, planning CentennialFest, and gearing up for the election of new club officers.  For one, I will reach my term limit as president and will not run again for elected office.   

As one who is officially geriatric, both observation and experience have taught me that sticking around too long inhibits the development of new leaders who have new and possibly better ideas.  It’s time to make room for new talent. 

That does not mean that I’m going to go hide behind my McLeod (trail tool).  I’m going to be out there digging holes, bucking blowdowns, and awarding tenure to my favorite waterbars.  I’ll also be helping the Supervisor of Trails to develop, improve, and sustain our training programs.  I’m also willing to accept assignments the next president may present. 

As we contemplate our 100th year, we are on the cusp of change.  Change arrives in many forms, some you can’t anticipate and some you can.  The key is to be as flexible and adaptable as possible.  For example, several staff members have told us they will be leaving in the relatively near future.  They have been kind enough to give us much more than the usual two-weeks notice.   

This is a golden opportunity to review and align staff functions for efficiency and better functional support of our club leaders who both lead and manage their respective areas.  It’s also an opportunity to review compensation and benefits to ensure the club can attract the best talent we can.   

We are seeing operational changes in the way we work with some of our partners.  As federal rules change, the way we conduct our business can be just as new for them as it is for us.  Nothing stays the same; it’s how we adapt that matters most.  Patience working through the issues is better than having a meltdown at the candy counter.   

Climate change continues to rear its ugly head in the forms of invasive species, drought, and changes in weather patterns.  A combined north and central district crosscut crew recently cleared tornado damage on Shenandoah’s Buck Hollow trail while the park service crew cleared the Buck Ridge trail.   

My backyard has been no refuge either. This summer we found the invasive tree of heaven and wavy leaf basket grass in the back yard.  We sadly lost a venerable old tulip poplar to drought.  Trunk measurements suggest it was between 160 and 180 years old!  Rather than take it down to the ground, we left a 12-foot -high stump for our chainsaw carver to gnaw on.  We used the sculpture at Bears Den for inspiration. So far, so good. 

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