TrailPatrol
10-23-2007, 09:03 PM
As we come to the close of another mountain biking season, and the seasons change here in Minnesota, I have come to the realization that the time has come for another change, as well.
As most of you know, the Backcountry Trail Patrol Association is a year-round endeavor, doing mountain bike patrol in the summer months and ski patrol in the winter. Although it initially started as a vehicle for my volunteer involvement in the Chippewa National Forest, and continues to be an active offshoot of my job as a park ranger with the Minnesota DNR, it has become much more than that, and requires more and more of my time and attention. For this reason, I have decided that it is time to step down from my position as Regional Representative for the National Mountain Bike Patrol in the North-Central Region, which is made up of Minnesota, North and South Dakota and Wisconsin, effective on November 1, 2007.
Please know that I am not, in any way, giving up on NMBP. I am still a strong believer in and supporter of the program, and the Backcountry Patrol will remain an active part of the national program for the foreseeable future. I will still continue in my leadership roles with events such as the Chequamegon Fat Tire Festival and the Twin Cities Marathon, and still perform volunteer trail patrol in the National Forests that we patrol. It is just that, having been the Regional Rep since the position was created, I feel that I have done as much as I could with the position, and it is time to someone with a different view and vision for what NMBP can be here in the upper Midwest to take the job over.
To that end, I have asked Alden Patton, the former director of the MORC Mountain Bike Patrol, if he would be interested in being the new Regional Rep for NMBP, and he has agreed to do so. Alden has been active in the MORC Patrol and it's predecessor, the North-Central Mountain Bike Patrol as long as anybody except Mike Randall and myself. He has worked events, patrolled trails. helped build trails, and since taking the reins of the MMBP in 2004, more than doubled the size of that patrol. He knows the patrols and patrollers in the region, knows where we need to build, such as developing patrols for the Mah Dah Hey Trail, and the Minnesota Arrowhead Region, and working with the developing patrols in Lacrosse and Green Bay. I think he will do an excellent job in the position, and NMBP National Coordinator, Spencer Powlison has accepted Alden as the new Regional Representative for NMBP. Congratulations, Alden, and thank you.
I want to thank each member of the MORC, Barmy Dogs and Backcountry Patrols for the support that have been given to myself and the National Mountain Bike Patrol in the years past. I assure you that I will stay active and contributing to the program as long as I am physically able.
Thank you again and...
Ride safe,
Hans
Hans Erdman, WEMT
Executive Director/Sr. Instructor
Backcountry Trail Patrol Association, Inc.
Isanti, MN
www.trailpatrol.org (http://www.trailpatrol.org)
"My country isn't a country, it is the winter"- Gilles Vigneault
As most of you know, the Backcountry Trail Patrol Association is a year-round endeavor, doing mountain bike patrol in the summer months and ski patrol in the winter. Although it initially started as a vehicle for my volunteer involvement in the Chippewa National Forest, and continues to be an active offshoot of my job as a park ranger with the Minnesota DNR, it has become much more than that, and requires more and more of my time and attention. For this reason, I have decided that it is time to step down from my position as Regional Representative for the National Mountain Bike Patrol in the North-Central Region, which is made up of Minnesota, North and South Dakota and Wisconsin, effective on November 1, 2007.
Please know that I am not, in any way, giving up on NMBP. I am still a strong believer in and supporter of the program, and the Backcountry Patrol will remain an active part of the national program for the foreseeable future. I will still continue in my leadership roles with events such as the Chequamegon Fat Tire Festival and the Twin Cities Marathon, and still perform volunteer trail patrol in the National Forests that we patrol. It is just that, having been the Regional Rep since the position was created, I feel that I have done as much as I could with the position, and it is time to someone with a different view and vision for what NMBP can be here in the upper Midwest to take the job over.
To that end, I have asked Alden Patton, the former director of the MORC Mountain Bike Patrol, if he would be interested in being the new Regional Rep for NMBP, and he has agreed to do so. Alden has been active in the MORC Patrol and it's predecessor, the North-Central Mountain Bike Patrol as long as anybody except Mike Randall and myself. He has worked events, patrolled trails. helped build trails, and since taking the reins of the MMBP in 2004, more than doubled the size of that patrol. He knows the patrols and patrollers in the region, knows where we need to build, such as developing patrols for the Mah Dah Hey Trail, and the Minnesota Arrowhead Region, and working with the developing patrols in Lacrosse and Green Bay. I think he will do an excellent job in the position, and NMBP National Coordinator, Spencer Powlison has accepted Alden as the new Regional Representative for NMBP. Congratulations, Alden, and thank you.
I want to thank each member of the MORC, Barmy Dogs and Backcountry Patrols for the support that have been given to myself and the National Mountain Bike Patrol in the years past. I assure you that I will stay active and contributing to the program as long as I am physically able.
Thank you again and...
Ride safe,
Hans
Hans Erdman, WEMT
Executive Director/Sr. Instructor
Backcountry Trail Patrol Association, Inc.
Isanti, MN
www.trailpatrol.org (http://www.trailpatrol.org)
"My country isn't a country, it is the winter"- Gilles Vigneault