Total Dynamic Balance Veterinary Hospital and Dr. Tia Nelson will be holding an equine vaccination clinic on Saturday, May 19, 2011 from 9:00 a.m. until 1:00 a.m. on a first come first serve.
Vaccinations available will be Eastern/Western Encephalitis and West Nile, Tetanus, Rhino Flu all at a reduced cost.
Please pass this information along to all Helena Trail Riders. If anyone has questions have them call 442-0188.
MAINTENANCE DIRECTOR’S REPORT –FEBRUARY 2012
The people who operated the carriage rides in Phillipsburg are moving and they have a bunch of stuff for sale. I thought maybe the members would like to know. Everything has to go by the end of April. They will have weekend yard and tack sales starting the first of April or call them now. Contact Bob or Peggy Taylor 406-560-1384.
They have a 15 year old grey Percheron mare who has been pulling the carriage through town, she is broke the best. (I talked with Peggy and this mare would be an excellent starter horse. She has been there, done that and is sweet as can be. Peggy said they are more concerned about getting her a good home than the price. They are asking $900.
A 12 year old Paint mare, rides and has done some ranch work. $800
A 28 year old companion mule. free
‘78 Chevy pick-up
Trails West 4 horse stock trailer
Shoeing stocks
Forecart
Feeders
Water troughs
Saddles
Team harness
Single bio harness
Misc tack & household items
West Arena
On February 1st, Sonny Stiger, Gary Bye and I met with Keith Hatch, Fairgrounds Administrator regarding the West Arena. Here’s what we learned and discussed:
--The West Arena receives almost no use from the public. In fact, last year the arena was only reserved and subsequently used twice. In other words, other groups only rented the arena twice. This, of course, does not include HTR’s “free days” every Tuesday and Thursday and the first Friday of every month. There was only one HTR hosted Omoksee at the West Arena last year. (I assume we also had a play day for practice.) So, the bottom line is the West Arena no longer receives the use it once did.
--The Fairgrounds intends to built a new arena northeast of the new Exhibit Building in the next three to five years. The Fairgrounds also expects to construct other horse-related facilities in the same area (timeline is uncertain). So, except for the West Arena, all equine-related facilities would ultimately be located in the northeast portion of the Fairgrounds. This seems to make sense.
--I have gone through a lot of gyrations regarding various options and costs for rebuilding the West Arena. In my absence, these were made available for review by Gary Bye at the January meeting. Bottom line, since we have neither the funds nor the manpower to reconstruct the West Arena ourselves, since our arena receives only limited use, and since the Fairgrounds intends to build a new arena in a few years, it appears to make little sense to continue pursuit of rebuilding the West Arena.
Most likely, it would be cheaper and easier for HTR to simply rent (or trade for services) the new Fairgrounds arena and use our excess funds for some other worthwhile endeavor which yields the maximum benefit to most, if not all, of our members. In the interim, we would continue to maintain the West Arena in a safe, useable condition. (Actually, I think we need to do a better job. For example, the gates and the lane judge structures are in tough shape.)
--Interestingly, if we abandon the West Arena, the long, long range plan to ultimately move the Clubhouse to the West Arena simply goes away—there is no need. However, it might make the most sense to ultimately relocate the Clubhouse to the northeast portion of the Fairgrounds. That way, we would be with all of the other horse-related facilities.
--Keith Hatch is willing to meet with us at any time and discuss Fairgrounds plans.
HIGH DIVIDE TRAILS UPDATE
On February 2nd Gary Bye and I drove to Deer Lodge to attend the Beaverhead-Deerlodge Forest’s (Pintlar Ranger District) open house for the East Deer Lodge Valley Landscape Restoration Management Project. Our purpose in attending was to show HTR’s continued support for reconstructing the historic Cliff Mountain Crest Trail which runs along the drainage divide between Little Blackfoot Meadows and the Deer Lodge Valley. This would be a non-motorized trail (winter time snowmobile use would continue to be allowed) as would the reconstructed and intersecting Baggs Creek Trail from the Deer Lodge side. Jack Kelley and I rode this trail two years ago and I led an HTR day ride on the trail about 20 years ago. Once you get on top using the Kading Grade, it is a neat area with sweeping views and the trail will connect with the Continental Divide Trail near Cottonwood Lake. Supporting the proposed Forest Service plan is consistent with the High Divide Trails plan laid out several years ago. Helena Trail Riders is a member of the High Divide trails organization.
Notice to the Supporters of the Continental Divide Trail Alliance
The Continental Divide Trail Alliance (CDTA) was formed in 1995 to assist federal land management agencies in the completion, management, and protection of the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail (“Trail”). Since that time, CDTA volunteers have dedicated nearly $5 million worth of labor while individuals, foundations, and businesses committed more than $14 million. As of 2011, 2,050 miles of the Continental Divide Trail have been completed.
Increasing pressures from development in the West, rising land costs, and decreases in Federal funding threaten the completion of the Trial. Despite the strong level of financial support from so many of you, overall contributions and other revenues in recent years have significantly declined with the economy. These revenues are the life blood of a non-profit organizations like the CDTA.
Consequently, the CDTA Board of Directors has made the very difficult and painful decision to cease operations of the CDTA. The financial condition of the organization has been unstable and deteriorating for a number of years. We have not been able to raise the necessary financial resources to sustain the continued operations of the organization.
We are taking the actions necessary to complete our outstanding contracts for work on behalf of the Trail. We are retaining the services of our committed and outstanding staff to meet our current obligations, to the extent financially possible, as we complete closing down CDTA over the next few weeks.
This is a sad day. But the Trail is still here, and it continues to inspire us all. We are confident this inspiration will lead people to start a new and stronger organization to continue the work on the Trail.
The Board and dedicated staff of the CDTA would like to thank each and every one of you for your tremendous commitment and support of the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail and the CDTA. We are truly humbled by the selfless actions of so many and hopefully this will inspire another group of people to continue the mission of CDTA.
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