WMTC Annual Gathering (Virtual)

6:00pm - Welcome - Melanie Luce, Executive Director and Matt Smith, President, Board of Directors

6:20pm - Speaker John Favro: Sustainable Trails

John has 40 years of trail management, construction, and maintenance experience with the U.S. Forest Service in California, Alaska, Montana, Idaho and North Dakota and has also worked in the country of Jordan developing outfitter camps and camel trails. John has been a trail instructor for 8 years teaching sustainable trail planning, construction and maintenance for the Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in many states throughout the US. His experience includes working on trails and projects for hikers, bikers, ATV, and multiple use trails. He has also worked extensively on equestrian-related trail projects (backcountry packing, trail and pleasure riding, endurance and distance riding, etc). John is involved in supporting the trails industry and is the Chairman of American Trails.  He also works closely with the Backcountry Horsemen of Montana and is a member of the Professional Trail Builders.

7:10pm - Speaker Ty Gagne: Ty will talk about what our volunteer search and rescue community can teach us about sustaining a legacy of service and stewardship in the White Mountains.

Ty  Gagne  is  chief  executive  officer  of  New  Hampshire  Public  Risk Management  Exchange  (Primex³),  a  public  entity  risk  pool  serving  local  governments  in  New  Hampshire.  He  is  a  certified  Wilderness  First Responder and the author of the book The Last Traverse: Tragedy and Resilience in the Winter Whites and Where You’ll Find Me: Risk, Decisions, and  the  Last  Climb  of  Kate  Matrosova.  Two  of  his  essays,  “Emotional Rescue,” and “Weakness in Numbers: How a Hiking  Companion  can  be  Dangerous”  were  published  in Appalachia journal.

7:50pm - Adjourn and Prizes!