Our Stories

Jim Bronson and Dave Newman: Volunteer Spotlight

2020 Trail Protector Award

Jim Bronson. As farm manager of the Michigan State University Kellogg Biological Station, Jim helped the Trail get onto that property, which relieved us of a lot of road walking. Now that he is retired, he has become even more active with the Chief Noonday Chapter, especially encouraging private landowners to welcome the trail onto their properties and off the roads. He also participates in the layout of new trail routes.

Dave Newman. As VP of Trail Preservation for the Finger Lakes Trail Dave has become savvy at creating deals that protect our primary fund for buying or protecting the trail route. While sometimes we spend money from it to buy a critical vulnerable property, in most cases we then sell it to an adjacent state forest. The critical thing in such deals is that we can act with relative speed, whereas the state’s processes are rusty and ponderous. So we might not be earning interest on that money for a few years, but it mostly comes back to our fund. He also works a lot with the Finger Lakes Land Trust on mutually advantageous deals.

Who are you proud of in your local Chapter, state or region? Nominate them for an NCTA Award! Awards are annual: northcountrytrail.org/volunteer/volunteer-awards