The Backcountry News President's Page


Camp whereby we can get our youth out on the back country trails. We see this as a way to get our kids comfortable with back country trails and camping. This will be their introduction into the wilderness ethics and history.


If we are to keep this organization


sustainable, this is a must do! We hope that other units will also pick up on this and get their own programs started.


As I’m writing this I’m thinking about our upcoming dues increase beginning the first of the year.


to justify, but if you look at what we’ve been doing


For some it is hard and what


needs to be done, I think it is a no brainer that we need dollars to make things happen and to improve on what we’ve been doing. Everything we do today takes more dollars than last year so we need to be proactive and prepared for taking BCHC to the next level. We are more than another social horse riding club, our mission is to preserve and protect the historic use of stock in the back country.


One new event we are participating in this next year is the


Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation annual Elk Camp in Las Vegas. This event takes place Feb. 28 to Mar. 3, 2013 at the Las Vegas Convention Center and we will be part of the BCHA booth to raise awareness of BCH to the general hunting public that attends from nationwide.


Hopefully we can gain membership and share


Greetings BCH, I have now started my third term as President of BCHC.


I look back


and try to figure out where the last two years went? I wonder if I’ve done anything worthwhile. After doing some research I remember that we spent a lot of time trying to create a better partnership with the Pacific Crest Trail Association, Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management. We had many meetings, emails and phone calls to develop a mutual understanding of what is needed to protect and preserve the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail.


This partnership


will be an ongoing effort to educate and develop packers and trail workers to carry on preserving the trail.


This last year we initiated a Legal Affairs Committee to oversee legal activities that come before BCHC.


It came to our attention that


leaving these matters up to the full Executive Committee would be cumbersome, and a lengthy process, so we came up with a Legal Affairs Committee to make recommendations to the Executive Committee. Hopefully this committee will not see much action, but it is in place if needed.


egg, (Legal Action Fund) to use for any litigation. talking about this for years.


Now all that is needed is to build up a nest We have been


I just recently looked over a newsletter


from the nineties and we started talking about this almost twenty years ago!


The time has come to put up our hard earned dollars


into this fund for future use in protecting and preserving our historic use of the back country. Hopefully we will never have to use it, but we can always utilize the interest off of a sizable emergency fund.


We’ve also been talking about getting our youth involved and we


have been making inroads through our various activities, but I’m not satisfied, I’ve seen what other states are doing and I want to do more. My unit, Mid Valley, has formed a committee to start a Youth Horse


MARK YOUR CALENDARS BCHC Rendezvous 2013 Will be held in Norco. March 22 - 24, 2013


George Ingalls Equestrian Event Center Page3 Dennis M Serpa


some of our “Leave No Trace” principles. We have much in common with RMEF in maintaining access to the back country and the habitat that is critical to all wildlife. We will be showing the attendees “Who We Are and What We Do” and how our Volunteerism is what makes this organization different.


options for our members to get involved with that will improve our organization.


Since we have many varied activities there are numerous It is the responsibility of each member to take


part in the activities in order to enable our units to achieve its purposes. I would hope that all members take the age old mantra of, “If it is to be it’s up to me!


Winter 2013


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