OCTA Volunteers and Donors Achieve 2023-2024 Milestones!
Thanks to our members, we enjoyed a successful symposium in El Paso, with excellent presentations and excursions. We had an outstanding convention in Gering, Nebraska, last year, with a range of excellent speakers, tours on the Oregon, California, Mormon Pioneer trails. We are very excited for our Pendleton, Oregon, convention in July 2024 as well! Steve Allison, Utah Crossroads Chapter, and Helen Hankins, CA/NV Chapter, were elected OCTA President and Vice-President, respectively. Your OCTA chapters enjoyed and completely several trail preservation and marking projects during the summer, and in the colder months, we hold virtual meetings and presentations, and I urge you to attend these fun and informative sessions.
Our YouTube channel went viral early in 2024, and we know that these videos, captured in the field and showcasing the trails and the associated history, appeal to a younger audience. When there – subscribe (it is free)! Our channel can be found at https://www.youtube.com/@octatrails,
Our association remains strong because you, our members, invest time and money. As you consider year-end giving opportunities, your support for OCTA is as essential as ever. Therefore, I ask for your help by making a year-end donation to our Annual Drive today. Our goal for this drive is $25,000 with which we aim to keep our trail advocacy and protection efforts alive. Last year’s Annual Drive continued our work to protect the trails threatened by transmission lines, pipelines, wind and solar farms, and other construction projects across the West. Progress is being made with many of the Preservation projects including, among others: mitigation of the impact of Boardman to Hemingway transmission line, the ‘R’ project in Nebraska, the Greenlink projects in Nevada and the Transwest transmission project as well as the protection of the Fernley swales, the successful mitigation project at Long Canyon/Gravelly Ford and documentary among many others. Your donation this year will keep those efforts alive.
In 2024, we need to continue working on the 4-Trails Bill to add several thousand miles of routes and segments to the Oregon, California, and Mormon National Historic Trails and the Butterfield Overland Trail.
Other projects included:
- The Preservation Workshop that kicks off the Pendleton, Oregon, convention.
- Work by the Libraries and Collections committee to catalog OCTA assets, to cull old records and to protect the Mattes Library as work is done to ‘repair’ the Independence buildings.
- The continued development of strategy for the Three Trails Corridor in Kansas City and the riverfront jumping-off point in St Joseph, Missouri.
- The Publication of the Overland Journal and of News from the Plains.
- Work with schools and teachers.
- Website improvement and enhancement, including the relaunch of new websites for our California/Nevada Chapter and the National website.
- Work with the National Park Service.
We need your support now if we are to continue these efforts in 2024.
Please consider, with our gratitude, a year-end gift to keep OCTA strong.
Thank you for being an OCTA member! Your membership is greatly appreciated, and if you aren’t already, I encourage you to become actively involved in protecting and promoting the trails we all love.