Hi all, the Hyner Club has sent out a state of affairs letter to all their members in regard to a number of their sites. The club has deep tentacles and interfaces with state park, state forest, and Dept of Conservancy and Natural Resources officials. Their efforts have resulted in outstanding results! I mean really, permission to burn an old house down in the LZ? How about the accolades the club received from the park ranger at Kennedy for their efforts in cleaning up the area? I only offer this as encouragement to all CHGPA members involved in revitalizing a number of our sites.
Hi Members,
It's been a long and cold winter but the Hyner Club has been busy gearing up for the season. I spent most of yesterday meeting with officials at Little Pine State Park, Bald Eagle State Park, and Tiadaghton State Forest (Kennedy) to hand deliver the new insurance certificates, renewal requests, and our new calendar with 2-D bar codes for our website and Facebook page addresses.
We have a lot to cover and life is short; let's get started:
Hyner
Most of the time yesterday was spent finalizing the plans for improving the walkway to launch. Little Pine and the Trail Dogs have agreed to assist us in installing Geoweb (http://www.prestogeo.com/photo_gallery_geoweb_general) that Bureau of Forestry has donated. This will be done after the Hyner Challenge Run in late April. The original plan was to cover the Geoweb with stone but I convinced them to cover with new soil and use special grass seed that can withstand heavy foot traffic. Nobody is sure if anything can weather the heavy rains that we had the last few years but having roots seems like the best choice. If not, blame me.
Little Pine has finally received permission to allow the local fire company to conduct a controlled burn of the farm house in the LZ that The Natural Conservancy purchased for us a few years ago. After that, wood cutting permits will be issued to locals for the removal of tress. Since I promised the Park Manager he would be the 1st passenger to land in the new LZ, he seems anxious on getting as much of the obstacles cleared as possible.
Elizabethville
After 1 ½ yrs of trying to get the wx station relocated in the top LZ, DCNR finally relented and gave me the contact info of the engineer of the Division of Forest Fire Protection who installed the unit. After speaking with him, he is looking into the feasibility of reprogramming the satellite coordinates without losing the data history and finding a new spot to collect new wx data. Not sure if it will happen but I'll stay on him through the summer.
Kennedy
Ranger Ben was so happy that we did a clearing party last year and send him a picture of all the trash we removed that he keeps a copy of it at his office to show everybody. Apparently, he got a lot of credit from his bosses and he wants pictures of every work party we do. He was glad that we are doing another work party at the end of the month
imagine that.
Jacks
"The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated" Jack's Mountain.
The owner of the launch hasn't signed any lease with any windmill developer. In fact, he has no plans or interest. He is still selling his 40 acre parcel and when I visited the family farm right before Christmas, he promised me he will give us a chance to counter any offer he receives and is still considering our offer to buy launch. That plan hasn't change. He hasn't heard from the developers in months.
I also have been in contact with the Project Manager with Volkswind (German windmill developer. Don't ask me how I got his cell #). A laid back, non-confronting approach has yielded us more info than we deserve. Basically, he said the response from all the land owners at Jacks has been less than desired and seems to be ebbing every day. They are not giving up, however, after 3 yrs and commitments for only 3 miles of land (near the gap), the developers are having a hard time to convincing enough people to lease their land to make it worth their while. My inside guy told me that if the windmills does indeed happen, it won't be for several years. No need to panic now. They still need to install a test unit to monitor the winds and collect data before they unload a single bulldozer.
BTW: he can't wait to see us fly when he is in town from Oregon and has been asking many questions about hang gliding.
I also have been in contact with the Mifflin County Directory of Planning and he has been advising us on all our options. We have been exchanging info and he is the 1st to know when any permits are requested in his county and he will let me know when sees any activity regarding windmills. When told about the rumors of bulldozers might be ready to flatten the top, his response of "Huh" with rising intonation was reassuring that the rumors were premature.
I also have been in contact with a reporter from Lewistown's local paper, The Sentinel. The original reporter who first reported the windmill story, Conor O'Brien, is no longer at the paper but his replacement is ready to break any story regarding the windmills. http://www.lewistownsentinel.com/page/c ... 28039.html. Not a single reporter has heard anything new about the windmills in many, many months.
Even with all these contacts, we still need you to let us know of any scuttlebutt you may hear about the windmills. Since most rumors are either grossly exaggerated or flat-out false, it's best you send them to me via PM so they can be vetted through my channels. Simply tossing every rumor up on the Yahoo List makes us look misinformed and unorganized. If and when the time is right to organize our club to keep Jacks windmill free, we will be ready and have the energy to fight the good fight. Going off ½ cocked at every rumor will wear us down
save your angst!!
Membership applications are slowly trickling in every day. Scott Keyser is currently updating Buffam's database to an online version that will be the envy of every club. Since a current and accurate roster is vital to keeping our sites open, I chose Scott for this daunting task because I know he won't let the club down.
Hyner's power couple, Tom & Mickey, are working hard behind the scenes to keep the machine running on all cylinders. Hard to imagine this club functioning smoothly without them
Only 70 days left to the official start of Memorial Day weekend. Plenty of time pull yourself together and be ready for another great year at Hyner
don't let us down.
Later,
Shawn
Hyner Club State of Affairs
Moderator: CHGPA BOD