Happy New Year! I hope all of you enjoyed a fulfilling 2007 and are looking forward to a successful new year. We in the Trails Committee are excited about the progress and possibilities for the AERC trails program this coming year. We are still getting our sea legs as we settle into our new responsibilities, and are working towards putting programs and systems in place that will make it easy and productive to further the cause of trails advocacy for the AERC membership.

Trail Master courses. The Trail Master program is a unique and valuable program available to all AERC members and the land managers with whom they work. We are planning four classes in 2008.

Contact Angie Fura (trailsend@hughes.net) for an application form if you would like to host a Trail Master class in your area. We would like to have classes held all around the country so they will be available and more easily accessible to the membership. We have one class tentatively scheduled at Susanville, California, in cooperation with the BLM.

We are in the process of surveying Trail Master graduates to evaluate the program. Trail Master graduate Lydia Cassilly helped develop a Trail Master assessment survey. The survey has gone out to all the graduates of the program by e-mail and snail mail. If you are a graduate and have not received your survey, please contact Lydia (cassilly@eritter.net). The more information we have about the program, the better we will be able to improve it and better serve your needs.

State trail advocates. We are working on updating the State Trail Advocates list. This is an important liaison to the Trails Committee members. The advocates help us to research issues in the individual states and help us to know where hot topics are. The State Trail Advocate is the regional contact for the state residents. We need to know if you are currently on the list and wish to remain or not and if you are not on the list and want to be.

Contact Kellie Moore (lu2enduranceride@ yahoo.com) to help us bring this list up to date.

Trails grants. We continue to reap the benefits of Julie Suhr's generosity for this program. Julie has pledged proceeds from her book, "Ten Feet Tall, Still," to the trails grants fund and we are extremely grateful. Please buy a few copies, enjoy a great story and help the trails at the same time. Thank you, Julie.

We also want to thank the membership for the money you have pledged for trails. The money from the trails grants fund can only be used for trails projects and we need your help to get this money out onto our trails. Lucy Bagot (lucy@acesethepace.com) has developed an application form for grants projects. Contact her to get a form. Soon the form will be available on the AERC website at the Trails Committee page.

Trails Committee website. It is our goal in 2008 to have our section of the website updated and current. Here you will find forms for the grants and Trail Masters programs. We plan to have progress reports on all active grants. Also there will be information and research articles here that pertain to trails advocacy. Direct questions regarding the website or additions you would like to see to Carol Crawford Myers (oregonreins@yahoo.com).

Federal lobbying. We will continue to be on the forefront of legislative issues that affect our trails and our access to trails. Amanda Stewart (amanda.stewart@glenville.edu) is our federal land manager liaison and is keeping us in touch with "all things Washington."

Trails preservation. Trails preservation is the key to our ability to do our sport in the manner in which it was intended. It is up to every one of us to do our part to maintain and improve our access to trails on public and private lands. In order to do this we must be good stewards of the land and good guests of the land managers. The Trails Committee is committed to you to do this ourselves and to help you do this also.

All members can contribute to trails in their own way, by what means are available to them. Some have time, some have money, and some have influence. Please do your part and we'll do ours. I look forward to seeing you out on the trails with a tool in your hand, a smile on your face, and the knowledge that there will be trails to ride tomorrow if we do our part. G