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Our host Friends Group for the Conference was
the Friends of Smith Mountain Lake State Park
(Earl Jacquot, President). Our host parks were
Smith Mountain Lake State Park (Brian Heft,
Manager) and Booker T. Washington National
Monument (Rebecca Harriet, Superintendent).
Friday's (May 2) activities began with a trip
from Smith Mountain Lake State Park to Booker T.
Washington National Monument. At the Monument we
had a complimentary continental breakfast, a
tour of the grounds, and presentations by
Rebecca Harriet, Superintendent, and Sandy
Rives, Director of Virginia's National Parks.
On the return trip, we made a short stop at
Bridgewater Plaza. Arriving back at Smith
Mountain Lake State Park, we enjoyed a great
lunch served on the Visitor Center Patio with a
terrific view of the Lake.
After lunch, we had the training component of
the program. Scott Martin from Franklin County
explained how the County acquired grant funding
for use in developing its parks. Scott also
shared with us some do's and don'ts about grant
search and application preparation.
Next came the tours of Smith Mountain Lake State
Park. We got both a land tour and a boat tour.
These tours flowed smoothly into a hospitality
hour followed by a great dinner overlooking the
Lake. Our dinner speaker, Clyde Cristman,
Legislative Fiscal Analyst, House Appropriations
Committee, gave a great speech that left
everyone energized and ready for the business
meeting on May 3.
The business meeting began with a complimentary
continental breakfast provided by the Friends of
Smith Mountain Lake State Park. Joe Elton,
Virginia State Park System Director, then
expressed his appreciation for VAFP's efforts to
support the 2002 Bond Referendum and to advocate
for the Park System on budget issues during the
2003 General Assembly. The Bond Referendum
passed with a 69 percent majority vote and $1.5
million was restored to the Park System budget.
Joe presented the attendees a framed
commendation for VAFP's efforts and
accomplishments. The document was signed by the
Director of Conservation and Recreation, the
Director of Virginia State Parks, the Assistant
Director of Virginia State Parks, and the
Manager of each State Park in the Commonwealth.
Next, Joe presented a certificate of
appreciation and a jacket to Roy Allan Dudley
(Friends of First Landing State Park) for his
assistance with the Youth Conservation Corps and
a certificate of appreciation and a volunteer
cup to David Koritko (Friends of Mason Neck
State Park) for his assistance with grant
applications for the Youth Conservation Corps.
Joe then read a letter of "heartfelt thanks" to
the VAFP from Joe Maroon, Director of the
Department of conservation and Recreation. Mr.
Maroon was unable to attend the conference due
to schedule conflict but asked that the letter
be read aloud on his behalf.
For the next hour or so, Joe discussed a number
of topics including the budget; the schedule of
Park bond projects approved by Governor Warner;
land acquisition efforts; the status of the
Occoneechee golf course issue; and revenue,
attendance and other operating statistics. He
then took questions from the floor.
The attendees were energetic and the business
meeting was marked by accomplishments. Some
examples follow:
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a set of strategic goals with related action
plans was adopted,
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a team was formed to deal with communication
issues,
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another team was formed to deal with revenue
issues,
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a decision was made to develop a Legislator of
the Year award and related responsibility was
assigned,
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a decision was made to send the Governor a VAFP
letter about the proposed power plant
construction adjacent to the New River Trail
State Park and related responsibility was
assigned,
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decisions were made and related responsibilities
assigned for preparing VAFP advocacy letters on
issues at George Washington Birthplace National
Monument and Booker T. Washington National
Monument,
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a decision was made and responsibility assigned
regarding the establishment of chat-room
capability to enhance VAFP's networking ability,
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decisions were made and responsibilities
assigned for developing and posting to the VAFP
website a list of needs for individual State
Parks so that these needs can be viewed by
potential corporate donors, and
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a decision was made and responsibility assigned
for developing and posting to the website a
"thank you" section to recognize volunteers of
the month.
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If you feel
as we do, we invite you to
join in our
efforts |
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