FOBHL
Board Meeting Minutes
Bighorn Federal Meeting Room
July 8, 2008 at 6:30 pm
Lovell
Call to order and Welcome – Bob C
Approval of June email minutes: Motion by Joe Second by Ken, motion carried
Read letter received – Advised us of the WAPA public meeting in Lovell
Thursday July 10 from 4 to 7pm to discuss the power line rebuild in BICA.
Report from John Keck - BICA
New Interim Supt. Sande is enjoying the assignment and doing well.
Tony Schetzsle, Deputy Regional Director is coming in from NPS Denver regional office on Wednesday to visit with local community leaders about what they expect of the new BICA Superintendent being hired.
HSBend Campground will be authorized soon to turn on the electricity.
HSBend Well bid is now back with BICA staff in Ft Smith for final prepping before being advertised again.
The new HSBend boat dock purchase is still in the process but will happen.
The Kane ramp area needs cleaned up. The path to the restroom will be built this week by the YCC group in time for the Catfish Tournament.
The renewed road and boat ramp on the extreme south end to BHLake is in the planning stage. Gravel will be purchased from BigHornCounty and hauled from the pit near the causeway.
NPS policy for things such as boating hazards (driftwood, rock out croppings, etc)on the lake requires a general caution statement to inform the public. They do not try to mark all hazards but advise use is at the visitors own risk.
The HSBend & Barry’s Landing grounds keeper, Troy continues to do an outstanding job.
The Marina and boat tour concessions are doing good and continue to see increased use!
There are rules posted for using the Tramp at the swim beach and we ask everyone to abide by them for the safety of all.
It has been reported by several visitors that there are large numbers of ants in the play ground area this year. Small children are getting bit when playing in the sand and not able to know what to do to avoid them. This situation will be evaluated by the staff.
The rope cleats on the courtesy docks are coming off due to the bolts being too short to hold the large boats tied to the cleats. This issue will be taken care of by the staff.
A dock will be needed for the catfish tournament this weekend and when Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne comes in August. BICA will determine how to best handle this need.
FOBHL Board Member Committee Work
Review of June 21 event
Ferrell Mangus – Shuttle service was used a lot and more units could have been used. There were 3 outfits this year.
Bob N, Jerry – Adequate advertising was done by FOBHL ads, Banners, Newspaper ads, TV spots in the Billings area, radio talk shows, in store posters, local businesses tagging their ads with the event information, emails to FOBHL lists and person to person invites.
David & Marilyn – Food vendors
Ken, Lisa & Joe – Promo activities for the BHLake 2008 season include TV ads, weekend events like Mustang Days and fishing tournaments. The 2008 BHLake Celebration on June 21 was a great success! Over 900 boats rides were given by the 14 boaters freely offering them. FOBHL used at least 68 helpers in yellow green vests to help that day.
Ken – The free boat rides were the hit again this year with almost double the number given. Boat drivers and helpers did a great job handling the constant crowd from 9 am to 6 pm that day. There was no serious damage to any boat from debris or the docks. Darece and her crew of dock helpers did a great job with the boat loading and unloading plus the movement of the visitors.
Joe – There were plenty of inner tubes gathered for that day then turned over to the Marina to use through out the year. We appreciate the local tire stores collecting the tubes for us! The Cat fish tournament is on track for July 12 at with Kane ramp being the central location. The info and regulation have been in the local newspapers, on posters and on the FOBHL web site. Posters were put up from Shoshone to Billings and all points in between.
Margaret & Rena – The FOBHL booth was busy giving away the new lake maps, answering questions, signing up new members and taking renewal memberships. They were even into dog sitting occasionally.
Jerry & Bob C – Mike Durtsche and staff were able to complete the installation of the new south end day boards just before the June 21 event. These new locators will be useful to the boaters and those involved in boater rescue/safety situations. These dayboards were purchased by FOBHL and donated to BICA.
Bob C – Bob met with Ranger Jeff H following the event to review the day. They were both very pleased how smoothly the day went and the enjoyment of the visitors. BHC Search & Rescue, Sheriffs office, Wyo Highway Patrol and the Lovell Ambulance services enjoyed the day with few concerns. We appreciate them being there. We thank all from BICA who put in the extra mile on that day too. FOBHL paid $800 for liability insurance for the day.
Public input received – Many personal visits, phone calls and emails have been received thanking us for this wonderful event again this year! FOBHL Directors appreciate all who came and all who worked so many hours to make it a success…..THANK YOU! !
Ongoing items for comment or questions:
USBR-MTAO Bighorn River Issues Group Meeting July 29, 9am to 3pm at the LovellCommunity Center (we will do lunch)
USBR conference calls continue each Tuesday with stakeholders of BHLake on summer water management.
The driftwood problem on the lake is being addressed as to how we can burn more of it next spring. Plans are underway by BICA with FOBHL help.
July BHLake Operation Plan - continued high inflows and releases, the peak will be near mid month with elevation 3643’ being reached.
We need to make personal contact to receive membership renewals from our business members.
We discussed how to handle boats from boaters who want to return to the marina for food, restroom time or a break without taking their boats out of the water. There needs to be dock space somewhere for them to use for a limited time. Using the old dock, mooring anchors or shore mats was discussed. BICA will consider these options.
Is it possible for anchors to be placed in the canyon where boaters tie up and spend the night in a side pocket? This is done at other NPS water recreation areas in the west.
Could there be a secure storage yard provided that would be rented out by the marina concession? This would allow boat owners to store a boat for the period of time they desire.