Minutes, Annual Public Meeting

                  December 8, 2022

Board Members Present (all via Zoom):

Will Roth

Edek Falkowski

Patrick Zelko

Tom DuBois

Dominic Eisinger

Jeremy Haas

Doc Livingston

Harold Sutton

Cooper Uliano

Piper Warren

Carly Woodhouse

Bob O’Connor

Tommy Blaney

Meeting called to order:

The meeting was started at 7:05 PM.   A quorum of the Board was present for the meeting.

Approximately 7 non-Board members attended via Zoom.  Thanks are due to Jeremy for moderating the “Chat” function for public input.

Meeting Discussion:

Will introduced the meeting and thanked the public members for attending.  Will offered congratulations to Edek as new ACC Vice President.

The meeting then proceeded according to the following agenda:

• Status and Plan for Trail Work Projects

• ACC Finances

• What Items are we Monitoring: Route 73 parking

• Peregrine Monitoring

• What members can do to contribute 

• Q&A

Trail Work:

Will summarized the trail work projects that have been completed, and our future plans.  We thanked all the volunteers.

Our VSA (Volunteer Stewardship Agreement) allows us to work with DEC in other areas.  We plan to do a trail work event in the Lake George region in 2023.

Finances:

Will briefly reviewed ACC’s finances and thanked all who have donated.  He pointed out that this is a completely volunteer organization.  

Patrick provided additional details: We are currently in good shape; our largest expense is liability insurance, which allows us to continue to operate, and to carry out valuable activities such as trail work.  Our current balance is about $7000, which is an “emergency fund” level.  Going forward, we plan to apply for grants for our work.

Will stated that we certainly appreciate any additional donations.

What Items are we Monitoring: 

Route 73 parking: Will summarized the spreadsheet we use to monitor usage.  We are working with DEC on the parking situation.  We hope to get the other two pullouts opened.  

Peregrine Monitoring

DEC continues to monitor the nesting status of Peregrine Falcons.  We hope for an opportunity to educate more climbers in this area, and to add some volunteers.

There will be DEC training events at Rocksport in Queensbury in March, and also in the Northern zone, probably about a week later (location TBD).

We are working with DEC to get the most current information posted.

This year in the northern area, the peregrine nest was unsuccessful at the Washbowl, but chicks fledged successfully at Poko and at Notch Mountain.

What members can do to contribute

Will mentioned that he would like to do “hybrid” meetings (face-to-face and Zoom) in the future, now that face-to-face meetings are more acceptable.

He asked members to encourage other people to join ACC.  Membership is free, and our membership numbers are important for our influence when lobbying the State.

Q&A

A question was asked regarding access to the various Moxham Mountain cliffs, and if ACC plans to do any work there.

The Cartoon and Cartahena walls are accessible.  DEC has not yet planned the access, so ACC does not yet have any work planned.

It was noted that the approach, at least to Cartoon, is fairly easy even with no official approach path.

It was also noted that even though these cliffs have a climbing history, the climbing was a long time ago.  Visitors should treat Moxham as an “adventure” area, and not expect established, easy-to-find routes.

Will thanked all the attendees.

The Annual Public Meeting was adjourned at 8:15 PM.

Respectfully submitted, Tom DuBois, Secretary