Network Meeting Summary

15 October, 2003  

I.            Announcements:

n         Chihuahuan Desert Park Open House and Desert Expo this Saturday, October 25^th at 9:00 AM.

n         SWEC Annual Fund Raiser at Downtown Mall This Friday at 6:30.

n         Dia Del Rio River Cleanup this Saturday, October 18 at 8:00 AM.

n         Rio Grande Path Construction to begin Monday, 20^th and should be complete in mid-November.

n         Triviz Path has been approved.  Construction should begin by the end of the month and finish in February.

n         Carol McCall and Sandy Geiger have books and information on the economy of farmland preservation.

n         A workshop to be presented at EBID offices will feature the topic of Coordinated Resource Management Based Watershed Planning, October 23.

Update on Network to be given to policy-makers.

Ray Bowers is producing a Powerpoint presentation for CTF to be given to city and county staff regarding the progress made thus far by the Network.  Ultimately this presentation will be given to elected officials at both levels.   The Network consensus is that names of participating groups be used, rather than using logos.

The Network had no objection to posting a summary of Network meetings at the CTF Website.  The question of whether the Network ought to have its own website was raised and this question will be emailed to everyone to vote on with the next meeting agenda.

 Update on Funding/Management Subgroup:

John Bunn gave a brief summary which included a discussion of land trust formation.

 Update on Map/Vision Subgroup:                                                      

Oral report given by Sandy Geiger.  Questions and discussion followed regarding the format and wording of the text of the Brochure which is being produced by the subgroup and funded by National Parks Service.  Suggestions were also made regarding the map portion of the brochure and whether or not a comprehensive list of sites should be included.  It was suggested that the subgroup return next month to the full Network with three proposals for various types of map layout. This will give the full group some idea of how the proposals for layout would look.

A question regarding the duration of plans for preservation of land was asked.  The BLM for example said that their land use plans are made and that every ten to twenty years these plans are reviewed.  The Network made no attempt to reach consensus on how flexible or permanent a regional open space plan should be.

 Next Network Meeting to be on November 19 at the Branigan Cultural Center