District Ranger Jim Smalls is the person responsible for managing gliding in the park and the launch area at Woodstock tower road area. I called him up and introduced myself today (8/14/08) and we had a brief discussion for 13 mins. My notes are as follows:
He said this was his "First time in 10 years" someone has called him from the club.
There are currently NO pending or anticipated prospect of windmills on "our" ridge. He said the ridge with WV Border is a possibility but the prospect is still somewhat marginal.
MOST IMPORTANTLY he noted that he's had only positive feedback from people regarding gliding and has no issues with our use of the park.
On the prospect of the occasional trimming project for safety of the launch, he mentioned that a permit is required, but is no problem (just give him a call regarding the paperwork).
I stressed that we would like to contribute to being good stewards of the park, and to think about if theres anything we can do.
I brought up the recent incident of Lazlo in tree... he read it in the paper but said its the first incident in a long time... did not seem concerned.
A minor concern he brought up was "where do we land" re X-country flights... but noted no complaints so far. I stressed that pilots choose grassy fields and have a policy of compensating landowners for crop damage.
He has witnessed our hang gliding at the site, but wasn't overly interested in trying it.
I left my name & number in case he had any thoughts/ideas, and he took my info for their mailing list.
Action Item: Add to Holiday basket list!! Jim Smalls (540-984-4101)
102 Koontz Street, Edinburg, VA
mailing address: 95 Railroad Avenue, Edinburg, VA 22824