The Meadow Vista Trails Association is dedicated to maintaining and establishing safe walking, running, biking and equestrian trails throughout Meadow Vista -- and the neighboring communities of Applegate, Christian Valley, Clipper Gap, Colfax, Eden Valley and Weimar -- for the benefit, health and enjoyment of the community while preserving the integrity of the environment.

Membership Meeting: Meeting times are 6:30 p.m. on the fourth Tuesday of each month at Mt. Mike's Pizza in Meadow Vista. All membership meetings are open to MVTA members and the general public.

Trail Work Days: Members, along with their friends and family members, are encouraged to participate in our efforts to maintain and improve the trails in our area. Trail Work events are generally held every other week throughout non-rainy months (May thru November.) Schedule and details are on the Trail Work page.

Meadow Vista Arena: MVTA manages the Arena on behalf of Placer County. See the Arena page for details on location, reserved dates, etc.

Trail Rides: Trail rides are organized by our mounted members. Rides are usually held on Thursdays or Fridays, from 9:30am to 2:00pm, during non-rainy months (May thru November.) All area riders are welcome to join in. Contact Sherri Bloomfield for more info at 530-878-0155.

Trail walking, running and cycling events are also held regularly.

 January 26th Meeting

Please join us for the first meeting of 2010. Meeting will be held, as usual, in the back room at Mountain Mike's Pizza in Meadow Vista. Social time starts at 6:30pm; meeting convenes at 7:00pm.

This meeting is the start up of a Calling Circle/Phone Tree for times of emergency. After the 49er fire of last year, a few of us got together and decided starting a calling tree would be a good idea. We envision a list of people who will agree to call each other to see if they need assistance or to ask for assistance with their animals during an emergency such as a fire.

As not every member of MVTA may want to participate in this, those who do not sign up will not be called—being an MVTA member will not automatically place you on the calling list. As well, the calling list will only be distributed to the calling list members.

At this meeting, we will be taking sign-ups and discussing how we envision this plan working.

If you have a question or suggestion for an upcoming meeting, please send an email to Claudia: AdminMVTrails.org.

February General Meeting

Looking ahead, our guest speaker for the February meeting will by Andrew Gerhard. Andrew attended a trail building class last year and has offered to share the information he obtained with us.

What makes for a good trail? Members who help out on our trail work days, as well as general trail users, can learn why trails are made in a certain way. Learn how the way we maintain and use our trails is so important to their enjoyment and survival. Please join us on February 23!

Message from the President, Claudia Booth

Hope everyone had a great holiday time in November and December!

The MVTA Board Members have just completed their first meeting of 2010 and are looking forward to the General Meeting at the end of this month. Our General Meetings are starting off on a good foot with some great agendas planned right up through March and possibly April.

This month’s meeting will center on starting up an emergency calling tree for members that want to participate. Read more about that in the article above. As a peek into the other meetings, we are looking forward to a Trail Building presentation, a possible presentation by another gold country area trails group and hopefully a presentation about the Cronin Ranch. So we have some great meetings lined up for our members.

Other events and improvements to look forward to this year:

• Our annual Horse Show, tentatively set for the month of June.
• An obstacle course is being planned as an Eagle Scout project to be built in the Dog Park area at the MV Arena.
• The Trail Buddy list is on our web site for those who want to find a companion for a horse or bike ride or hike on the trails.
• Our Friday equestrian trail rides are still going strong; right now they are dependent on the weather. There is the possibility of starting up another group of equestrian rides for those of us who prefer to ride on weekends.

The MVTA board is, as always, open to suggestions for events you would like MVTA to sponsor. We want to hear from our hiker and cyclist members on these suggestions, as well as our equestrians. Perhaps events geared towards our kids? Let us know!

As President of MVTA, I am looking at my last term, which will end December 2010. I have enjoyed my time as president, working with great fellow members, many outside agencies such as the Placer County Parks and the Placer Hills Fire District, and community members, and made many friendships along the way.

I do look forward to being MVTA President this year and hope, with the help of all the Board Members, to keep MVTA growing and striving into a positive association that continues to improve, protect and increase our trail systems.

At the same time, I look forward with great anticipation, to a new President for 2011 that will bring new ideas for our great association! I encourage anyone (including current board members), who may be interested, even just slightly, in placing their name on the November ballot for MVTA President to contact me. I will share with you exactly what the job entails. I invite you to come to some of our monthly board meetings to get a taste of what goes on. So if you think you might be interested, give me a call and let’s talk!

Membership Dues

We have maintained a pretty solid roster of 100–105 members for several years. Isn't it amazing that we are that large?

What do your membership dues pay for? Membership dues provide us funds to purchase tools to help us keep the trails clean and clear, along with tool maintenance and gas for power tools.

For the Meadow Vista Arena, dues cover the cost of new sand, manure rakes and mounting steps.

Dues also pay for administrative expenses such as insurance, postage for newsletters and such.

The next time your membership is up for renewal, think about upgrading to a Trail Guardian or a Lifetime membership. Check with your tax advisor; it may be possible that your membership is tax deductible. MVTA is a charitable non-profit organization. And please, if you have friends, neighbors or family who might like to join our membership, invite them to do so! The larger our membership, the better able we are to protect and enhance the trails in our community.

Become A Member Today!

MVTA is a non-profit organization, and your contribution may be tax deductible. All members receive the MVTA Monthly Newsletter by mail and/or email. Annual and Lifetime membership levels are listed on our Membership Form.

MVTA is a good source for sharing information. Our members have interests in bike riding, running, jogging, equestrian activities, and dog walking. Think of what MVTA has accomplished in the past few years: gaining private access to the Esoteric Trails, keeping the connector trails around Meadow Vista open and accessible, and building the horse arena and dog park, just to name a few.

Keep your membership active! — You can even renew on-line: Major credit cards accepted via PayPal.

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