Your FETA Newsletter

Spring is springing up all over and with it more great days to enjoy the trails. There have been lots of trails improvements over the winter. Many thanks to our crack Trails crews for keeping the FETA System in such beautiful shape over the winter.

We know this is a tough year for everyone. The good news is that despite major expense increases, primarily for insurance, the FETA Board has "held the line" on dues this year. This has been possible by the hard work of the Member Communications Team, headed by Faith Jorgenson. Their efforts have saved FETA thousands of dollars in printing and postage. The response to switching to e-mail delivery of our newsletter has been overwhelmingly positive, so we will send the membership forms via e-mail this year. We think this will go smoothly, but please "pardon our dust" if you have any problems. Our intrepid new Membership Chair, Roberta Axelrod, will do her best to get you signed up efficiently. See Roberta's article below for more information.

Your dues go primarily to trails. In addition to the many new trails, we have replaced several old bridges and made other expensive improvements last year. Most importantly, FETA has worked hard to be a good steward of the land and repair substantial erosion damage that has accumulated over the decades and reworked the land to move the water properly. We have been at this for years and the results are really starting to show. It is very important for us to respect our generous landowners' property and good footing really improves your riding enjoyment and the safety of horse and rider. If you have any suggestions for areas that need work, please contact Dave Smith, Trailmaster.

We know everyone is always busy, so if you can't make the Spring Cleaning Trails Day on March 28th, try to do your part to help tidy the trails as you ride. Our riding landowners maintain their own trails and if you are a neighbor to one of these generous people, offer to help out. That is the tradition of this community trail system. As is taking personal "ownership" of the condition and use of the trails. If you would like to volunteer to help in any capacity, please contact Rhonda King, who coordinates putting us all to work.

Finally, we can only send information to people who are on our member database. Some area residents and landowners do not realize they can join FETA and may inadvertently impose on our Landowners' generosity. If you know anyone who is 'accidentally' riding on FETA trails or is new to the area and might be interested in joining not only to ride, but to help support this unique, historic trail system, please pass the word. We all need to do our part to preserve this priceless legacy.

Ride Friendly. Ride Safely.
Dot Moyer

President