VICTOR HIKING TRAILS
OFF SITE LOCATION
October 15, 2020
PARTICIPANTS: Chauncy Young, Ruth Rugabar, Dave Wright (via phone conference), Paul Knerr, Lisa Roberts, Scott Reinhart, Jeff Miller (via phone conference), Jeff Hennick (via phone conference)
Meeting was called to order at 7:20 p.m. by Dave
MINUTES: Motion to approve the September 17h minutes was made by Ruth, Chauncy seconded, approved.
TREASURER’S REPORT: Ruth Rugabar
Assets as of September 30, 2020:
Checking $8,369.57
Savings $1,003.75
Wepay $20.00
PayPal $385.00
Total $9,778.32
Paid for volunteer t-shirts, trail buidling supplies.
Paid HEP bill of $1,449.86.
Paid for the volunteer picnic at VMP.
Received $550 from Boughton Park as reimbursement for supplies for trail work at the Park.
Notable donations: $1200 from Rochester Running, $1000 from Chauncy and $138.48 from Travelers.Insurance
Chauncy made a motion to approve the financials, Scott seconded. - Approved.
MEMBERSHIP: Denni Harbaugh
Membership is at 200 with 74 due to renew.
Meetup is at 1085 up 1073, 23 new people signed up.
PUBLICITY & NEWSLETTER: Dave Wright
Dave updated the phone message and sent out a press release with details of the November 14th hike from the Apple Farm north to Ganondagan.
Next newsletter will be published December 21st.
The number of Facebook page likes as of September 17th was 1243, up from 1236; followers are at 1251 up from 1218. There were 95 page views (down 20%) and 5 likes in the past 28 days (down 87%). Posts in the last month reached 678 people (down 5%).
Most popular recent posts were the announcement of the November monthly hike (517), photos of the scarecrow on Main Street (468), post asking people’s favorite trails (407), and photos of the edible plants educational hike (402).
EDUCATION: Jeff Miller
The edible plants hike had 27 people attend, Deborah Denome was very informative, she also fixed Jerusalem artichokes and white pine tea. It was a beautiful day and great event.
Next educational hike will be at Lollypop Farm. It will start with an overview of adopting a pet. At 3:00 the group will go outside for a loop hike for about 45 minutes.
VOLUNTEER COORDINATOR: Jeff Miller
Recent Events:
Ready Set Glow trail run at 7pm at Dryer Road Park on Friday, September 25th went well, with 4-6 volunteers attending.
Unlimited Breadsticks trail run on Sunday the 27th started at Boughton Park at 7:30 am. It went well.
Volunteer Dinner – The Victor Municipal Park lodge has been rented for Saturday, October 24th from 3:00 – 9:00 pm. 54 different people volunteered this year.
TRAILMASTERS: Paul Knerr, Scott Reinhart
Scott has sent a revocable permit to land owner, Paul Bishop. He approved a 2 mile loop trail on his property. Paul, Scott, Dave and Chauncy walked the property and flagged out a trail, identifying a tentative Spring 2021 opening.
Chauncy discovered there is an adjacent parcel owned by the Town of Victor, which could potentially connect to the trail on the Bishop property.
Betsy Kubiak, the owner of Sugar Hills Farm, has asked to walk a potential trail on her land this fall. She has some concerns regarding a trail impacting agriculture, hunting, and hikers’ safety near property lines bordering the Rod and Gun Club. Chauncy can provide a map to Scott with a proposed trail and can walk the property sometime after December. 31st.
Scott has contacted the remaining landowners and mailed materials to many of them.
TRAIL BOSS: Chauncy Young
All equipment is in good working order.
Will schedule a winterizing tools work party
The new scabbard to carry lops on the mower works well, Chauncy will order more.
Mowing is done for the season
Leaf blowing will start in November
Dave received an offer from an individual that would like to donate some time to pick up litter on the Auburn and Lehigh Trails, Dave will follow up with the volunteer.
Chauncy would like to complete a board walk east of Fish Creek in October. A motion to purchase materials not to exceed $2000 was made by Lisa, seconded by Scott, approved
Summary of trail work
Monkey Run drainpipe installed.
Split rail fence between the Auiburn Trail next to Victor Insulator and the Spitzer Stairs installed.
Prep work for boardwalk on the Auburn Trail east of Fish Creek.
Built and installed a scarecrow to participate in the Scarecrows in Victor event.
LAST HIKE:
The Whiting Road Nature Park hike had 7 people attend, including a family of 3. Everyone enjoyed the hike and one hiker joined VHT & Friends of Boughton Park after the hike. . The hike was approximately 4 miles and 2 hours long. The park was quite busy, with a lot of mountain bikers there prior to the VHT hike.
OLD BUSINESS:
The Victor Town Board agreed to the changes on the language on the Auburn and Lehigh Trail signs and will replace them over the next three years.
VHT is still looking for a volunteer coordinator.
NEW BUSINESS:
Terry Cardula would like to donate property they own along the Trolley Trail and Route 251 to the Town of Victor. Chauncy will talk to the Genesee Land Trust and Brian Emelson about the town buying the land.
Dave Schaeffer received a book authored by a member of the Crescent Trails Association and would like to share it with any interested VHT board members.
Mitch Donovan forwarded a copy of a newspaper article about the story walk at VMP and also a donation to VHT.
A thank you card and photos of the story walk opening were received from the Victor Farmington Library staff.
Slate of Officers for 2021
Chair – Dave Wright
Vice Chair – Jeff Hennick
Secretary – Lisa Roberts
Treasurer – Ruth Rugaber
Vote will be held during the November 19th meeting.
NEXT HIKE
The Apple Farm on November. 14th at 9 am, meet at The Apple Farm store.
2020 VHT HIKES
Nov. 14th – Apple Farm Seneca Trail North
Dec 12th - Valentown to Kreag Rd. Park, hike one direction, car pool back
2021 VHT HIKES
Jan 9th - Dryer Road Park
Jan.23rd - Educational Hike at Lollypop Farm
Feb.13th - Powder Mills Park
March 13th - Webster Park
2020 GVHG HIKES:
Nov 7 / Saturday 9:00 a.m. Moderate pace 5-7 mile hike. Fishers Park and Domine Trails. Meet behind Fishers Fire Station 1, 7853 Main St. Fishers, Victor, NY Chauncy Y. 455-1932.
Nov 27 / Friday 9:00 a.m. Moderate pace, hilly 6-7 mile hike. Ganondagan State Historic Site, Fort Hill and Dryer Rd Park. Meet at Ganondagan parking area, 7000 Boughton Hill Rd (CR 41), Victor, NY Chauncy Y. 455-1932.
Dec 20 / Sunday 9:00 a.m. Moderate pace, hilly 6-7 mile hike. Northern portion of the Seneca Trail. Meet behind Bed Bath and Beyond, 20 Square Dr, Victor, NY Chauncy Y. 455-1932.
NEXT MEETING:
The next regular meeting will be on Thursday, November 19th 2020, 7:00 p.m. at Victor Town Hall.
Meeting adjourned at 8:53 p.m.
Respectfully submitted by Lisa Roberts