From the President SPENCE GUSTAV · Rosemary Semrau Rosemary Semrau offered to share the fol-lowing information for our June Newsletter. ... Kris Van Gorkom, and Spence Gustav

Vol 2013, Issue 3 Branching Out Page 1

Volume 2013, Issue 3

Friends of the Forest Sedona June 2013

Greetings Fellow Friends of the Forest,

Summer is upon us and it is warming up quite

a bit. Some of you have already headed off to

cooler areas but I hope to see as many of you

as possible at our summer meeting on June

19th.

During early June, FOF members will receive a

Member Survey via email. The purpose of the

survey is to gather information about FOF

member skills and areas of expertise, and to

identify where there may be member interest in

utilizing their skills, hobbies and talents in new

initiatives supporting the Red Rock Ranger

District, or in sharing skills in new programs for

Friends Members.

The survey will be short and simple, utilizing

an online format which is easy for us to tabu-

late and review. We encourage members to

respond to the survey when it goes out. At this

time, we do not plan to make the survey avail-

able by regular mail.

Janie Agyagos, Red Rock District Wildlife Of-

ficer has requested some help for an ongoing

survey that the Forest Service is supporting.

Here is part of the original request:

From the President SPENCE GUSTAV

“The Center for Bat Research, Outreach, and

Conservation is asking for your help in under-

standing how bats use swimming pools across

North America. Anecdotal reports suggest bats

use swimming pools for drinking, perhaps es-

pecially in areas where natural water sources

are scarce. If you own, use, or manage a pool

on a regular basis, you could provide valuable

information regarding bats' use of swimming

pools.

We have developed an online survey, which is

voluntary and meant to be taken only once per

person, to gather data about this subject.

Whether you observe bats around your pool or

not, your responses are still valuable to us.

This survey is open until 15 September 2013.

You can find the survey, as well an informed

consent statement, at this website http://

batsandpools.wordpress.com/.”

Please feel free to distribute this message and

web address to other contacts in North Ameri-

ca. We are interested in gathering data from a

diverse array of pool users.

I must admit, we do get some interesting op-

portunities to help out on a great variety of pro-

jects. This is an especially good opportunity for

Page 2 Branching Out Vol 2013, Issue 3

MERCHANDISE

SUZIE DUNN DEBBIE WYCH

our members who live in various parts of the

country to participate.

A quick reminder about safety when you are

out and about enjoying the forest or doing

various volunteer duties. Be sure to carry and

drink a good supply of water when you are out.

There have been many reports of black tail rat-

tlesnakes being active and there appears to be

a bumper crop of these critters this year.

Please keep an eye out for them and give

them some space.

A recent incident by a Friends of the Forest

member has prompted a safety reminder from

the Forest Service. While hiking in a relatively

remote location, a member came across what

they believed to be construction of an illegal

“farm”. Forest Service personnel recommend

that “if you ever come across something in the

Forest that is unusual or looks suspicious to

"LEAVE IMMEDIATELY THE SAME WAY

YOU CAME IN" and if possible note the loca-

tion (GPS coordinates if available). We were

told these sites are occasionally guarded by

armed personnel and if not manned, they often

have bobby traps. They stressed the extreme

danger of spending time around one of these

sites.

At the June 19th meeting the FOF merchandise

committee of Suzie Dunn and Debbie Wych

will have available a supply of our new Sedona

Friends of the Forest embroidered patches.

The patches are 3 ½ x 3 inches. We are mak-

ing the patches available to our members at a

price of $2 each. These patches can be sewn,

glued or attached to any items on which you

wish to place them. My volunteer vest and hik-

ing pack will definitely have them displayed.

Best wishes for a fun, healthy and safe sum-

mer to all. Spence

Spence has introduced you to our new FOF

patch (see above) we will have them for sale at

our June 19th meeting. Also at that time we

will have a fresh supply of FOF caps, our pop-

ular key tags, golf shirts and t-shirts. If your

size or color choice is not there, you may order

in person. We are there to assist you so stop

by.

Recently, we received an order from life mem-

bers who live in New Jersey. Wow! They want

to advertise our great organization along the

trails in New York and New Jersey! We hope

you are wearing your FOF gear proudly at

home and abroad.

Take a picture when you are and send them to

me. The persons photographing themselves

the farthest distance from Sedona, wearing

FOF gear, will be honored at our September

meeting. Now who doesn’t like a contest!


CULTURAL RESOURCES

JERRY WALTERS

FOF BY THE NUMBERS

BILL KUSNER

Be sure to check out the FOF website, which

includes the link to our catalog company, for

more information on merchandise colors and

styles.

Suzie

MEMBERSHIP

ELOISE BALDAUF

Five new members have joined Friends of the

Forest

Bob Beltz

Barbara and Leonard Lewis

Susan Justin

Rosemary Semrau

Rosemary Semrau offered to share the fol-

lowing information for our June Newsletter.

Rosemary had resided in California, Wiscon-

sin and Illinois. While caring for her parents in

suburban Chicago she was certified as a natu-

ralist interpreter guiding children in tours at the

Arboretum. As a member of Tree Keepers,

she also planted and cared for trees in her

community. Rosemary first visited Sedona in

1990, captivated with Sedona’s beauty she re-

turned for another visit then moved to the area

April 16th. Rosemary is anxious to start volun-

teering in Trail Patrol, Cultural Resources In-

terpretation and Protection and Trail Encounter

Monitoring. With her love of the great outdoors

and trees Rosemary is especially looking for-

ward to joining Jennifer this fall in West Fork’s

Orchard Preservation.

On behalf of The Friends, I extend a warm wel-

come to all of our new members.

Eloise Baldauf, New Member Chair

928 284 4356

[email protected]

Members volunteered 2731 hours for March

and 2009 hours for April bringing the fiscal

year to date at 16,951 hours. No records were

broken by any of the committees and this is

the fourth highest year to date. Last year we

had 18,001 hours at this time.

A few committees - River Rangers and Trail

Register Pickup have not reported their April

hours.

Bill Kusner

Photo Digitization Project

The project to digitize and catalog the histori-

cal/archaeological 35mm slides and prints for

the Coconino National Forest inches along in

Phase 3 of the project (begun in July 2011).

All 13,586 slides have been processed along

with 11,000 of the 67,000 prints! Phase 3 en-

tails transcribing the typed and hand written

comments from the back of the prints into a

“photo log” database (MS Excel). This phase

is by far the largest in terms of hours required

for completion. To date, we are 30% complete

for the total project.

The skills required to be a member of this team

include a general comfort with using a Win-

dows based PC, entering data into a spread-

sheet, using an image (i.e. photo) viewer, and

attention to detail. Training and group work

sessions will be provided. Please consider vol-

unteering for this project. You do not need to

be a docent to provide great value to this pro-

ject. If you are interested in helping with this


project, or would like more information, please

contact Jerry Walters at Fof-

[email protected].

Honanki Photo Documentation Project

This project is well underway. The team of nine

has contributed 300+ hours to this project since

February. Room documentation has been com-

pleted and the rock art portion is well underway.

If you are interested in helping with this project,

or would like more information, please contact

Spence Gustav at [email protected].

Site Report Digitization Project

Spence and his team of four have done a blitz-

krieg on this project. It went from inception to

completion in just a few weeks. The team

amassed over 130 hours on this project in a

very short time. Well done!! Kudos to Eliza-

beth Dean, Kurt Starbuck, Roberta Stock-

man, Kris Van Gorkom, and Spence Gustav.

Join me in welcoming new docents Paul

Schwartz, Jon Petrescu and Terri Petrescu.

All three have jumped in and started volunteer-

ing regularly within a few days of completing

their training. Thanks to Spence Gustav for

conducting the Palatki portion of the training.

They are all new to FoF this year and are work-

ing on multiple projects and committees.

WELCOME ABOARD!

If you are interested in helping protect our cul-

tural heritage sites and learning more about the

Palatki, Honanki and V-Bar-V sites, consider

joining the Cultural Resource and Protection

Committee. Please call or email

([email protected]

g) for more information.

Jerry Walters 284-1339

On the outside looking in, left to right, Kurt Starbuck,

Roberta Stockman, Scott Newth, Elizabeth Dean,

Vicky Garrard. Photos provided by S Gustav

“When you don’t like the FOF President”

The photo documentation team at Honanki temporarily

opened a ruin room allowing Spence Gustav time to

crawl in. The room was sealed off again 10 minutes lat-

er after Spence completed the documentation.

Take a Hike and take along a friend or two


VISITOR INFORMATION SERVICES

NOREEN LISOWSKI DOTTIE CORRELL

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

the Friends are doing. A bonus is the great refreshments that are provided. Check out the Friends

Website at www.friendsoftheforestsedona.org. If you have a change of address, be sure to post it

on the website. Thanks.

Two fee-free days on Red Rock Ranger Dis-

trict coming up

Flagstaff, AZ – In celebration of National Trails

Day and Get Outdoors Day, the Red Rock

Ranger District will waive day-use fees for the

first two Saturdays in June, including June 1

and 8.

As part of the celebration, Coconino National

Forest personnel will be leading hikes and con-

ducting light trail maintenance at the Boynton

Canyon Trailhead and Cathedral Rock Trail-

head on June 1, beginning at 9 a.m., and the

public is invited to join them.

Small teams will be organized for the trail

maintenance and those who want to participate

should wear a helmet, glasses, gloves, long-

sleeved shirt, long pants, boots, water and sun-

screen. For more information about the events

on June 1, please contact Forrest Saville at

928-203-7509.

Also, fees will be waived at most trails and day-

use sites on June 8 in the Red Rock Ranger

District in recognition of National Get Outdoors

Day. This includes places such as Palatki,

Honanki, and V Bar V cultural sites, and ap-

proximately 300 miles of multiple-use trails.

Areas not included in the fee waiver program

are campgrounds and recreation areas man-

aged under concession contract, including Call

of the Canyon, Grasshopper Point, and Cres-

cent Moon Ranch.

Additional free days planned later in the year

include: National Public Lands Day - Septem-

ber 28, and Veterans Day Weekend, Novem-

ber 9-11. For more information concerning fee

free days, visit www.fs.fed.us/passes permits/.

The Red Rock Visitor Center can also be

reached at 928-203-2900.

Respectfully,

Brady Smith, MBA

Forest Public Affairs Officer

Coconino National Forest

Tel: (928) 527-3490

www.coconinoforest.us

The summer season is upon us and the Visitor

Center is very busy, with many of our regular

VIS volunteers headed to cooler climates, there

are many available slots to be filled in the cal-

endar. If you have time to help out at the Visitor

Center, review the calendar on the FoF web-

site www.friendsoftheforestsedona.org for open

time slots. Please let me know the dates that

you are available to work. Thank you.

Noreen

[email protected]


Branching Out Editors, Jean Ober, Darl Rector, and Chuck Jenkins thank all of you who turn in great

articles and pictures for Branching Out.

A Fond Farewell to Heather Provenico

District Ranger

Red Rock Ranger District

The Friends of the Forest Sedona wished

Heather Provenico farewell and good luck in

her new assignment as Deputy Forest Supervi-

sor at White River National Forest, Colorado.

After 12 years of working in the Coconino Na-

tional Forest, the last 6 in Red Rock Ranger

District, Heather will be missed by the Friends

of the Forest Sedona and especially the past

and present FoF presidents who have worked

closely with Heather to assist the Forest Ser-

vice. In the photo on the left, Heather is seen

with a walking stick made by FoF member Lar-

ry Frei which FoF presented to her at the April

17th meeting. In the photo below, FoF past

presidents Al Cornell, Mike Ward, Carol Wir-

kus, Roy Julian, Chuck Jenkins, Heather

and FoF President Spence Gustav.

Photos by M. Vitek.


ARIZONA NATURAL HISTORY ASSOCIATION

PAM MARSHALL

Hello to Everyone,

Arizona Natural History Association is pleased

to announce the launch of our revised web-

site. Please check it out at:

www.aznaturalhistory.org

New to our website is an online store and the

ability to pay online for membership. There are

destination pages, which provides some high-

lights of the National Forests we serve and

Verde Valley Archaeology Center .

Also, we are now on Facebook. If you have a

Facebook page, please search for Arizona Nat-

ural History Association to view.

Our many, many thanks to the designers of our

new website, Anugito ten Voorde of Artline

Graphics and Matt Schaefer of Sedona Website

Design.

Pam Marshall, Executive Director

Arizona Natural History Assoc.

Red Rock Ranger Visitor Center

8375 Ste Rte 179, Sedona, AZ 86351

cell: 928-821-6277 Fax: 928-284-4357

email: [email protected]

Waterfall at Fossil Creek

Oak Creek

Hiking West Fork of Oak Creek Canyon Photos on right by J. Ober


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 June 19, 2013 9:00 AM - Ranger Station

FOF Quarterly Board of Directors and Members meeting

All Members are welcome

Future Board of Director Meetings:

September 18, 2013

December 11, 2013

IMPORTANT DATES FOR YOUR CALENDAR

Helping to protect

National Forest Land

PO Box 2391

Sedona, AZ 86339-2391

Friends of the Forest

Documents

From the President SPENCE GUSTAV · Rosemary Semrau Rosemary Semrau offered to share the fol-lowing information for our June Newsletter. ... Kris Van Gorkom, and Spence Gustav