CL Slash S.O.S.

CRYSTAL LAKES SLASH – SOS

Strategies Options and Solutions

Greenbelt Subcommittee Report

June 18, 2011 – CLRRA BOARD MEETING

At the May 21, 2011 monthly CLRRA Board Meeting, after thorough discussion, our group was appointed to serve as a sub-committee of the Greenbelt Management Committee.

Members appointed were: Gary Wiegel and Shirley Pfankuch – co-chairs, Martha Gillespie, Jim Narva, Jack Goodell and Dean Staberg.

We are extremely proud of this diversely qualified group that came together in a mere few days, with a rock-solid commitment to doing whatever we could to address the problems and to devote ourselves to quickly finding solutions that would serve the Crystal Lakes Community. We have met twice since that date and have discussed the objectives for our committee. The consensus of our group, which will come as no surprise, is that there are no new solutions to the slash dilemma for the CLRRA Board. There has been a strong resistance by the members that were in close proximity to any site that has been suggested; as well as to a slash pile being located within the boundaries of Crystal Lakes; but we do not infer that it was the clear voice of the majority. It has seemed clear that any resistance was in fact paralyzing the organization and any positive effect that could be taken. The current pile does not have clear long term availability; the associations only have Greenbelt areas to fall back on; and no solution could be implemented without cost to the membership in going forward. Further, the financial logistics made it seem unlikely that any quick solution would become readily available – which we felt was going to prove to be very detrimental to the safety of our community, because of the rapid progress of the Beetle epidemic. Over the past many, many months, the course for the Board seems to have fallen into place; by both exploration and trial and error:   1. Do nothing, 2. Invest in a large scale chipping operation, 3. Continue with the Kilns, 4. Allow on-site burns by property owners, 5. Invest in an Air Curtain Burner. Each of those seems to speak for itself and we will not detail them in this report. However, there was careful consideration given to the negatives that were associated with each method and care was taken to focus on those that were environmentally preferred and those that promote the overall health of the forest and reduce the fire risk for the community as a whole.

On May 21, the CLRRA Board gave their “blessing” to a private venture to move forward towards attempting to solve the community Slash Disposal dilemma. Our committee believes that our “focus” in acting for the Association was both immediately and dramatically reduced in terms of what our role could be within the confines of Crystal Lakes. A large portion of the assistance our committee proposed to provide was related to exploration and ultimate recommendations for some long-term, large-scale slash disposal option. In addition we would have assisted in the logistics to implement, finance, and operate such a venture on the part of the Association and for the benefit of the Membership.

Because of the turn of events at the May 2011 meeting, each one of our committee members, along with a group of over 40 additional Crystal Owners, found themselves being propelled into a new role which was a direct support and involvement in the “private venture” that will provide a slash disposal option for not only the residents of Crystal Lakes, but other surrounding areas as well. We are each committed to doing so because we believe strongly that our community can no longer wait for a perfect solution that will please all the C.L. membership. The safety of our community and homes are at great risk. As a group we support the feeling that it will best take place outside of Crystal Lakes. Each of our committee members has both a personal and financial commitment to this venture; and our focus remains strong --to be sure that the Crystal Community is doing all it can to act responsibly in caring for their properties. Our goal for each property, and the community as a whole, is to be as fire-safe as possible; and to provide an alternative to the members that will be closer and more cost effective than those that were being left to them without a local slash disposal site. That being said, we do believe that our committee can still continue to assist the Board and the community in the following roles:

• By acting as liaisons for the Board by dealing with members on a more personal level – to answer questions, make referrals, and inform them about the various strategies and options that best fit their individual needs. We believe that we can have a positive impact by being in personal contact with members who have concerns or questions.
• To formulate a continuing education plan directed to the membership as to the importance of continuing to clean up their properties. Further, we hope that we could try to “soften the blow” of the transition for property owners having to personally assume the financial responsibility for their clean up actions by providing them with various strategies and options.
• To continue as members of the Greenbelt committee in making recommendations to the Board and assist in formulating a proposal to the membership for Greenbelt Maintenance and the slash that is both already present and that will be generated in any clean up operations that need to take place in the massive greenbelts within Crystal Lakes.
• Any other role the Boards may deem suitable to our committee.

The Crystal Lakes Slash – SOS committee has a desire to continue in whatever role we can, within the boundaries of Crystal Lakes, to assist both the Board and the membership; but will respect any decision that the Board makes as to the future status of this committee.

Should the CLRRA Board feel that we no longer have a viable or compatible role to provide in assisting them – we will willingly disband and proudly retain the record for what will probably be the shortest lived sub-committee in the history of the Crystal Lakes Road and Recreation Association.

Although, we believe that in a very short month we will have also served our purpose quite effectively.

Sincerely Submitted,    

Gary Wiegel and Shirley Pfankuch – Co Chairs           June 18, 2011

C.L. SLASH SOS – Strategies, Options and Solutions

At the September 2011 CLRRA Board Meeting, 90 days after presentation of our committee report, the decision was made to disband our committee. Each of the members of our committee will continue as members of the Greenbelt Committee and hope to continue to assist the members of the community in mitigation of their properties against both beetle infestation and for the implementation of fire safety measures.