As most of you know, this will be my last term to serve as a director-at-large and to chair the AERC Trails Advocacy Committee.

The adventure of guiding AERC into a more active role in trails began in 1999 when Randy Eiland decided it appropriate that I take on the role of trail advocacy for the organization.

My role as a trail preservationist began in 1980. It has given me the opportunity to serve the membership of AERC and to travel across the United States, meeting others who are involved in the effort to save our trails.

Thanks and more thanks

There is no way that I could ever thank those of you enough who have been an active part of our trail efforts. There are so many of you who have stepped up to the plate and answered the call to be a part of saving our trails.

The AERC board of directors has been most supportive. To them we owe a great deal of thanks.

To the Trails Advocacy Committee members, state trail advocates, and to the Trail Masters who are out there sharing their education as to how to design, construct and maintain sustainable trails -- I will always be indebted for your service.

One very special person stands out as a true champion of trail preservation. Her contributions made it possible to put AERC right up there nationally as one of the best trail preservation organizations in the U.S. Julie Suhr wrote the book "Ten Feet Tall, Still," about her travels throughout the world while riding a horse. Proceeds from the sale of her book go to the AERC Trails Fund and to the Western States Trail Foundation for trail preservation work.

The funds from the sale of Julie's book made it possible for us to create trails grants and to begin to think of AERC in a much larger scope than we have in the past. The seed money from book sales helped spark our imagination as to what we could be in the world of trail preservation.

Many of you like what we have been doing, and have made individual contributions to the AERC Trails Fund. Thank you, thank you, and thank you for the difference you have made. Without the funds we could not move forward.

Coming soon

In the very near future we will have in place a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Bureau of Land Management. The MOU will outline our partnership with the BLM on trail preservation and our working partnership with them on the Wild Horse and Burro program. There are so many opportunities we have in working with the BLM. We are only limited by that of which we do not think.

Ft. Stanton, New Mexico, is our primary demonstration project with the BLM. Under the tutelage of Roger Taylor, we continue to improve the capacity of what AERC and BLM can do working as a partnership at Ft. Stanton. The potential of what can take place at Ft. Stanton is endless.

In time, Ft. Stanton will become our crown jewel, demonstrating how effective AERC can be at building sustainable trails, trailhead development, site development and training. Beginning this year, Ft. Stanton will become a permanent training site for our Trail Master courses.

Amanda Stewart has created a Trail Master class at Glenville College in West Virginia which is our second permanent site for Trail Master training. It takes an enormous amount of time, effort and funding for all of this take place.

Roger and Amanda certainly deserve our praise and thanks for creating two outstanding projects, demonstrating leadership at its best.

Long-term objectives

But what of the future? Where are we headed? What will be the primary obstacles to keeping us on our trails?

Where are we (AERC) headed? That depends on leadership. We have devoted trail preservationists within AERC. We need to look to our younger members and find those individuals who believe in and are willing to work hard at trail preservation. We need to encourage them, support them and mentor them so that our access to our trails will be secure.

What are our primary obstacles? In one word, it is complacency. Trail preservation is hard work. It can be frustrating at times. But when we do succeed the rewards are beyond description. From time to time you have heard me say that in trail preservation the pay stinks, but the rewards are out of this world.

After 26 years of trail preservation I'm convinced that we must remain engaged at the local, regional and federal levels to preserve access to our trails. To do otherwise is not a possibility. It is up to all of you to make a commitment or renew your commitment to trail preservation. Without our trails we lose our culture and our heritage.

Riding in a wilderness setting, viewing all of the wonders Mother Nature has to offer is what we will or will not lose. It's up to you and only you. Remember, all you need is a horse and a trail.