October 2009

The Club will be working together with Shawano County and WATVA to  

write a grant for funding to make the Badlands trail a permanent  

trail from Memorial Day to Labor Day each year.  Our main job is to  

get the route determined and approved by the landowners involved.   

WATVA will help with determining the amount needed to do the work on  

the trail and Shawano County will actually be preparing the grant  

application.  The grant application must be in by April 15 to be  

eligible for funding in the next State budget.  When approved the  

funds are available after the State budget is passed, sometime after  

July 15.  Funds are available each year for trail maintenance once  

the trails are established.  The current rate for annual maintenance  

is $450 per mile, but work is being done to try to increase this to  

$600.

A lot of hard work has gone into getting the Badlands trail project  

this far.  There is a lot more hard work still to be done.  There  

will be plenty of opportunities coming up for members to volunteer  

their time and talents to see the project through.

The process of acquiring the Novitiate property for an ATV park  

continues to move forward slowly.  A third appraisal has been done on  

the portion of the property where there was a large variance between  

the first two appraisals.  It is hopeful this will help move forward  

towards an agreeable selling price.

Help is needed to unload the trailer of all the signs, post etc. that  

were used at the Badlands Run.

Please meet at the storage shed in Thornton on October 21 (Wednesday)  

at 5:30 PM.  If we can get 5 or 6 members it should only take an  

hour.  If you need directions please call Scott or Wendy.

The Club voted on October 14 to donate $250 to SAFPARC (Shawano food  

pantry) again this year.

Mark your calendars:  The Shawano Holiday Parade will be on December  

4 this year.  Those wishing to join the fun and ride in the parade  

please meet at 5:30 PM at the old Zwicker  parking lot at the corner  

of  Lincoln and Elizabeth streets.

Volunteers will be needed to help ring bells for the Salvation Army  

this year.  We hope to have dates and times by next meeting.

The Happy Trails ATV Club Christmas party will be held on December  

9the ( our regular meeting date) at the VFW in Shawano.  We will  

again be collecting food for SAFPARC and Toys for Tots.  More  

information will be in the next newsletter.

Looking even farther ahead, the WATVA annual meeting will be held in  

Wausau on April 16, 17 and 18, 2010.

Next meeting is November 11 at the VFW in Shawano at 7 PM.  Hope to  

see you there.

Wendy, Scott, Marilyn and Dave