VOL 2015, Issue 1 Branching Out Page 1

Volume 2015, Issue 1

Friends of the Forest Sedona

FEBRUARY 2015

From the President Jennifer Young

Fellow Friends,

At the December meeting the Board of Directors

voted on officer positions. Jean Ober is Secretary,

Rick Baldauf continues as Treasurer, and I have

stepped into the President position upon Spence

Gustav's completion of his two year term.

The Vice President position is vacant at present.

The Board also elected Mike Ward to return to the

Board and continue his handling of our evolving

internet-based opportunities.

In accordance with Friends of the Forest tradition,

Spence Gustav's service as President were

acknowledged with a special gift at the December

meeting. Some members may not know that long

time FOF member Ruth Cornell is a very gifted

artist. For quite a few years Ruth has painted and

donated large murals of various wild animals for

use as targets for the atlatl demonstration at the

annual V Bar V Archaeology Discovery Days.

Spence is known to admire these paintings and

mourn their inevitable destruction each year at the

hands of atlatl novices. So, Spence was gifted a

custom-made "target" - a life size grizzly bear

mural painted by Ruth. It was a fitting acknowl-

edgement of the life size contribution Spence has

made to Friends of the Forest as President.

During Spence's term the achievements of Friends

of the Forest were many and diverse. As we enter

our 21st year, FOF is larger in membership and in

active volunteers, numbering over 450 with half

actively volunteering. FOF support to visitor infor-

mation needs continues to grow as visitation

swells. Skilled and effective volunteers are in place

to lead Committees and respond to new needs of

the Forest Service. The capacity of our organiza-

tion to respond to "special projects" ranging from

cultural site documentation, to specialized con-

struction, to internet communication, to public edu-

cation, to wildlife monitoring -- is truly astonishing.

With a combination of heart, humor and endless

hours, Spence and our dedicated volunteer base

have positioned the Friends to meet the needs and

Mr. Grizzly

Painted by Ruth Cornell, Photo by Spence Gus-

tav

Page 2 Branching Out VOL 2015, Issue 1

Branching Out Editor, Jean Ober, would like to

thank all of you who turn in great articles and

pictures for Branching Out.

opportunities of our third decade. And this founda-

tion makes my job a pleasure!

Also completing a notable term of service to the

Friends in December was Susan Vitek. Susan

served as FOF Secretary for ten years. She sup-

ported the varying styles and needs of a succes-

sion of five FOF Presidents. I wish to express our

thanks to Susan for so skillfully documenting the

organization's meetings through these years.

I am greatly appreciative that Jean Ober will pro-

vide a smooth transition in the Secretary role and

that Rick Baldauf will continue as Treasurer.

As we start the new year, Friends volunteers will

enjoy the return of Justin Loxley who is on tempo-

rary assignment as Red Rock Ranger District Vol-

unteer Coordinator. Many FOF members will re-

member Justin as RRRD Volunteer Coordinator in

years past. And he has not forgotten us! Justin

will likely be on assignment from Flagstaff to the

District at least into the summer.

In January I had the honor to accept an award on

behalf of the Friends from the Keep Sedona Beau-

tiful organization: a 2014 Award of Excellence for

community service "in recognition of 20 years of

protecting and enhancing the forest experience for

residents and visitors." It was a noteworthy recog-

nition from an organization that shares FOF stew-

ardship values toward the National Forest. And it

was a fitting final chapter for the anniversary

acknowledgements of 2014.

On a lighter note, one of my first official duties in

my new role was indoctrination into the Christmas

Elf Committee, greeting visitors and hikers on the

Bell Rock Pathway on Christmas day. I will be

speaking to Justin about a Job Hazard Analysis/

JHA for that group.

I look forward to being a part of the next decade for

FOF, and I wish to thank many and all for the sup-

port, guidance and friendship which propelled me

into the President's chair. I hope to see many of

you at the New Member Welcome Event on Feb-

ruary 25th and out and about on the Forest this

MEMBERSHIP

ELOISE BALDAUF

Thirteen new members have joined FOF since the December Newsletter Report: Catherine Weld, Genie and John Sawyers, Terry Ann and Greg Morris, Annalis and Werner Reis, Judy Lovelett, Kathy and Nick Baldasari, Judie Argo Bill and Lisa Preeg On behalf of The Friends, I would like to extend a warm welcome to all new members. Eloise Baldauf 928-284-4356 eeb1951@yahoo.com

year. Do not hesitate to contact me with ideas, in-

spirations or concerns at jycoyote@hotmail.com or

928-284-0016.

Best regards for the New Year,

Jennifer Young

Elves Jennifer Young, Mike Ward, Frank Wir-

kus, Bob Shuman, Michael Campbell, Vicki

Garrard, Al Cornell, and Spence Gustav. Photo

by S. Gustav.

VOL 2015, Issue 1 Branching Out Page 3

VISITOR INFORMATION SERVICES

JIM WILSON NOREEN LISOWSKI

Members are always welcome at Board Meetings. It is a good way to get acquainted and learn

what the Friends are doing.

PUBLICITY COMMITTEE

CAROL WIRKUS

Are you one of our newer members who would like

to learn more about FOF and meet other mem-

bers? Or perhaps you are a long-time member

who contributes lots of hours in one activity and

you’d like to see what other volunteer opportunities

FOF offers. Maybe you have a friend or neighbor

who is interested in joining the Friends. Or possibly

you would just welcome the opportunity to socialize

with this special group of people.

Whatever your reason, consider attending our an-

nual Welcome Event for new, prospective and cur-

rent members, which will be held at 2 pm on

Wednesday, February 25, at the Red Rock

Ranger District Visitor Center, located on High-

way 179, about a mile south of the Village of Oak

Creek. This is a great way to meet other FOF vol-

unteers, and to hear from committee chairs about

trail patrol, trail maintenance, visitor information

services, graffiti removal, cultural site interpretation,

and so much more.

If you have not yet seen our 3-minute video about

Friends of the Forest, this is a wonderful opportuni-

ty to do so. And while you’re at the Visitor Center,

check out the many exhibits FOF helped fund, and

stop by the ANHA gift store where FOF members

get a 15% discount and no one pays sales tax.

If you plan to attend our Welcome Event, please

RSVP to Eloise Baldauf at 928-284-4356 or

eeb1951@yahoo.com. Come learn more about

this special group of people and the organization

we all support with our time and skills. Friends of

the Forest offers something for everyone who ap-

preciates and wants to help protect the beautiful

National Forest we are privileged to call home.

Carol Wirkus

Aside from muddy trail advisories and the tempo-

rary road, Devil’s Bridge and the cultural heritage

sites closures due to our remarkable snowfall, it

was business as usual at the Visitor Center. Our

unseasonably warm temperatures enticed visitors

and there was no shortage of volunteers providing

the type of customer assistance we are known for.

On January 9th and 10th, the FOF and RRRD host-

ed a Mexican Gray Wolf education program at the

visitor center. Bob Beltz (pictured with the Gray

wolf below) and Jennifer Young, Interpretive Pro-

gram Co-Chairs, were instrumental in hosting the

event.

Federal and state experts spoke to the pros and

cons of the controversial efforts to manage the re-

introduction of wolves to Arizona and New Mexico.

The event proved so popular that even with a

change of venue from the visitor center to a larger

room in the administration building, twice as many

were turned away as could be accommodated. A

refuge wolf travelling as an “ambassador” was a

show-stopper for many locals and the visiting pub-

lic alike.

Jim

Page 4 Branching Out VOL 2015, Issue 1

CULTURAL RESOURCES

JERRY WALTERS

RIVER PATROL

MIKE VITEK

V-Bar-V Discovery Days

Mark your calendars! This year’s event will be held on Saturday and Sunday March 21st and 22nd. The usual call for volunteers for parking duty, tent set-up/takedown, etc. will be going out in early March. This is always a fun and highly attended event. Our organization’s perennial participation has been a big contributing factor to the success of the event.

Docent Refresher

A bi-annual one day Docent Refresher was held in January for Docents who have been active in the past year. It was a great opportunity for our newest docents (and old alike) to view a wonderful presen-tation by Peter Pilles (Coconino Forest Archaeolo-gist) – “An Overview of Verde Valley Prehistory” and another from Paul Lindberg (noted local geol-ogist / archaeologist) – “Overview of Verde Valley Geology”. Travis Bone (Red Rock District Archae-ologist) talked about current issues with vandalism at several sites in the district. Unfortunately, the weather is cool, the ground is soft, and the digging is easy! There was plenty of time for questions of the panel and visitation between attendees. For the first time ever, the session was video recorded for viewing by those who could not attend. Spence gets to add another column to his long list of ser-vices provided through his volunteer activities.

Photo Digitization Project

The project to digitize and catalog the historical/archaeological 35mm slides and prints for the Co-conino National Forest continues in Phase 3 of the project. The slide portion of the project was com-pleted in 2012. Work still continues on the print portion of the project. To date, we have processed 31,092 of 67,442 print images! Phase 3 entails transcribing the hand written comments, from the margins of the slides and back of the prints, into a “photolog” database (MS Excel). This phase is by far the largest in terms of hours required for com-pletion. We are 51% complete for the total project. The skills required to be a member of this team in-clude a general comfort with using a Windows based PC, entering data into a spreadsheet, using an image (i.e. photo) viewer, and attention to detail. Training and group work sessions will be provided.

Please consider volunteering for this project. You do not need to be a docent or have an archaeology background to provide great value to this project.

If you are interested in helping with this project, or would like more information, please contact Jerry

Walters at Fofdocents@gmail.com.

Cultural Site Photo Documentation Project

The cultural site photo documentation project has been progressing quite well. The documentation of the Honanki ruins and Palatki dwellings and rock art are complete. The documentation the rock art panels at Honanki and other rock art sites in the area were recently completed. Work on the V-Bar-V panels will begin soon. If you are interested in helping with this project, or would like more infor-mation, please contact Spence Gustav at spencehg@yahoo.com.

I am pleased to welcome a returning docent. Cath-erine Weld rejoined the ranks in January after a reluctantly long hiatus. Special thanks to Spence Gustav for providing training at Palatki. If you are interested in helping protect our cultural heritage sites and learning more about the Palatki, Honan-ki and V-Bar-V sites, consider joining the Cultural Resource and Protection Committee. Please call or email (Fofdocents@gmail.com ) for more infor-mation.

Jerry Walters 284-1339

Weather Changes River Rangers Trips

Inclement weather reduced and changed some of

the planned trips of the River Rangers this year.

Dexter had to cancel one trip to remove evasive

species since the chemicals they use would not be

effective due to the rain.

We also had a takeout cancelled due to the dan-

gerous road conditions on FR 708; the fire guys

(Forest Rangers) used their quads to retrieve Dex-

ter and his crew. Thus, our hours are down from

previous years. The week of February 8 - 14, the

River Rats will put Dexter and his crew in at Childs

VOL 2015, Issue 1 Branching Out Page 5

GRAFFITI REMOVAL

MARK MUNSELL MIKE OBER

Our group has had three very productive sessions removing graffiti from our beautiful red rock coun-try. The support from our members has been great with each session averaging about 8 people.

The most serious incident involved a large splat-tered area of various colored paint over a creek bed adjacent to Seven Pools. The removal process was tedious and difficult work for our group of vol-unteers. We were not 100% successful but the area is so much better with the amount of graffiti we were able to remove. We will continue to watch this area over the winter and will go for a second cleaning in the spring if needed.

Left: The Graffiti Re-moval Crew in action at Sev-en Pools (photo by M.

Munsell)

The heavy use areas of Bell Rock, Ca-thedral Rock, and Devil’s Bridge contin-ue to have the

most graffiti reported. We are finding less graffiti on each cleaning session than the prior one, hope-fully we can continue to gain on and reduce the amounts of graffiti left by some visitors to our area.

We are always interested in gaining new members for our committee; if you would like to help with our graffiti removal efforts, please contact Mark Mun-sell (munsells@gmail.com) or Mike Ober (rebopm@yahoo.com)

Mark

and then bring them back a few days later. This

trip will have a lake take out giving Brian Pain-

chaud (one or our new members) a chance to go

to Horseshoe Lake and with luck, there may be wa-

ter in it!

Mike

TRAIL MAINTENCE AND CONSTRUCTION

MIKE OBER

The Trail Maintenance and Construction crew took

a three week break over the holidays. After this

well-deserved rest, we started the New Year off

with the Forest Service providing trail maintenance

training for our members presented by Forrest

Saville. The classroom training had 26 attendees

and we were able to have our members review and

sign the current Job Hazard Analysis for Trail

Maintenance and for Sawyers. The “in the dirt”

training was conducted at the Mescal/Chuckwagon

trails and gave 19 of our members’ hands on train-

ing with the focus being on trail brushing and drain-

ages. Ten TM&C members attended the Forest

Service provided First Aid Training this month.

Kurt Starbuck, Jim Manning and Mike Ober

completed the B Sawyer certification. Even with all

this training, we were able to maintain Wood’s Can-

yon which required extensive brushing and a num-

ber of tree removals from the trail. Chuckwagon

was worked on and continues to be a focus of the

trails crew.

Pictured below David Murrill, Ernie DiMillo, Sam

Serrill, Rich Spinelli and Mark Munsell using the

six-person sling to stage rocks to build stairs at the

airport saddle. Photo by M. Ober.

Page 6 Branching Out VOL 2015, Issue 1

INTERPRETIVE PROGRAM

JENNIFER YOUNG BOB BELTZ

Our two presentations and Saturday Event for the Mexican Wolf Program drew an overwhelming re-sponse, thanks to wide publicity and high area in-terest. Both presentations filled the Ranger Station meeting space to capacity and unfortunately we were required to turn many people away due to exceeding the room capacity, we apologize to them. Our special thanks to Jeff Dolphin from Ari-zona Game and Fish, Bill Chamberlain, Director of the US Wolf Refuge, and wolf educator Doris McFadden for sharing their expertise and time.

A new hike leader has joined the program, photog-rapher and new FOF member JK Lovelett who will be leading the photo walks. Friend’s members Kevin Harding and Roy Julian also provided two talks and four guided walks. We extend a special thanks to the Friends who led these events and those who attended and provided support. Please check the Friends of the Forest website (www.friendsoftheforestsedona.org) for upcoming

event times and details. Note that hikes and walks require advance registration as group size is lim-ited. Call 203-2900 to register.

Upcoming events include:

February 2, 9:00-11:00 AM, Birding walk led by

Kevin Harding.

February 13, 11:00-12:00 AM, Visitor Center The-ater, History of Sedona, presented by Janeen Tre-

villyan, Historian for the Sedona Heritage Museum

February 16, 9:00-11:00 AM, Photography Walk

led by local photographer JK Lovelett.

February 25, 9:00-11:00 AM Nature walk – Plants and animals, led by Kevin Harding (Fully

booked).

February 25, 2:00 PM, Visitor Center Theater, Friends of the Forest Welcome Event.

March 3, 9:00-11:00 AM, Birding Walk led by Kev-

in Harding.

March 6, 9:30-4:40 Ancient Technology Event, Red Rock Ranger Station.

March 11, 9:00-11:30 AM, Ethno-botany Hike led

by Roy Julian.

March 25, Honanki Tour as part of Archaeology

Awareness Month led by Scott Newth.

March 28, 11:00 AM, Visitor Center Theater, Se-dona Recycles presentation.

We continue to seek speakers for activities at the Visitor Center Theater and leaders for nature walks and other community events.

Our Friday trail maintenance sessions continue to

be well-attended with more interest being shown by

new members. Sam Serrill and Rich Spinelli con-

tinue to do sign work on Wednesdays.

Thank you all for your hard work and dedication to

making the trails a pleasant experience for visitors

to the Red Rocks.

Mike

Forest Ranger, Forrest Saville conducting the “in

the dirt” training for the Trail Maintenance crew on

Chuckwagon Trail. Photo by M. Ober

VOL 2015, Issue 1 Branching Out Page 7

JK Lovelett leading the Photography Walk from

Yavapai Vista. Photo by E. Dean

Contact Bob Beltz (928-554-4327) or Jennifer Young (928-284-0016) if you are interested in vol-

unteering or have ideas for additional events.

Bob

WELCOME EVENT

FRIENDS OF THE FOREST

FEBRUARY 25, 2015 2:00 PM

ALL MEMBERS AND FUTURE MEMBERS ARE WELCOME

COME LEARN MORE ABOUT ALL THE FUN COMMITTEES AND MEET THE

COMMITTEE CHAIRS

RED ROCK RANGER DISTRICT VISITOR CENTER

VISITOR INFORMATION SERVICE

JIM WILSON NOREEN LISOWSKI

At our November VIS training class, we welcomed four new members to the VIS family: Manny Romero, Da-vid and Sharon Winkel and Gretchen Yager have joined the ranks of Substitute volunteers. By far the most exciting news about Visitor Services has been the introduction in January of our new electronic sign-in and online calendar sign-up for open shifts. Our tireless Webmaster and VIS volunteer Mike Ward made the whole process simple and painless, even for a tech-challenged dweeb like me. Volunteers can now sign in electronically on a laptop computer at the Visitor Center. Their hours are then tal-lied automatically, saving yours truly from tallying volun-teer hours on her fingers at the end of each month! Simultaneously, we introduced a new system whereby Volunteers can sign up open shifts directly on the FOF website calendar. No more emails flying back and forth every time someone wants to volunteer for a shift. Mike created easy-to-follow step-by step instructions for each of these systems and so far, everything is working smoothly. Thanks Mike, for all your hard work. Noreen Lisowski VIS Scheduling Coordinator

Check out the Friends Website

www.friendsoftheforestsedona.org

Page 8 Branching Out VOL 2015, Issue 1

Non-Profit Org.

U.S. Postage Paid

Sedona, AZ

Permit No. 6

See Branching Out in color

www.friendsoftheforestsedona.org

The Friends of the Forest, Inc. is dedicated to assisting the U. S. Forest Service in maintaining, protecting, and restoring the sce-

nic beauty and natural and cultural resources of forest lands for the enjoyment and use of present and future generations. The

objective of this nonprofit, volunteer group is to work in partnership with the U. S. Forest Service in tasks it does not have the man-

power or the funds to accomplish on its own.

Wednesday February 11, 2015 9:00 AM - Ranger Station

FOF Quarterly Board of Directors and Members meeting

All Members are welcome

Future Board of Director Meetings:

April 15, 2015

June 17, 2015

September 16, 2015

December 9, 2015

IMPORTANT DATES FOR YOUR CALENDAR

Helping to protect National Forest Land

PO Box 2391

Sedona, AZ 86339-2391

Friends of the Forest