Seems a few of us plan to eat too much for Thanksgiving, so need to walk it off Friday. Those who wish this needed exercise meet at the ranger station at 8 and we will go to our MST section by hwy 215 to Heywood Gap and use the crosscut to remove a few trees. Good exercise! Please let me know if you will be out - may bring another tool or two. Bill

Folks, There are a few hearty folks who want to work off Thanksgiving dinner and will be going out on Friday the 26th. Right now this group consists of Piet, Allen, and Howard and they plan on cutting out the trees remaining on the Brown Gap to Max Patch Road section and possibly the big tree down between Lemon Gap and the new shelter. If your plans have changed, and you want to join this happy bunch, meet them at Home Depot at exit 44 of I-40 at 8:00. Please let me know if you are going to be there so I can tell them and they don't take off early and leave anyone behind. Hope everyone has a great Holiday and is ready to join us again on Friday December 3rd. Skip

John Soldati's Wednesday Work Crew

Officially we will take a "Holiday Break" the day before Thanksgiving. The weather is lousy, the day will be bleak. So let's take a day off. Of course anyone needing a day in the woods can go. Hope each of you has a grand day on Thanksgiving Day. See all of you on the 29th hopefully. JS

nyone interested in joining the trail crews contact: Hendersonville area-Bill Newton, 828-693-4033, Brevard area-Dick Johnson, 828-884-3685, Asheville area-Skip Shelton, 828-891-3264 or Piet Bodenhorst, 828-298-8371, Misha Lazer, 828-259-9729, lazerm@bellsouth.net , Mike Lang, 828-658-1914, mlang626@buncombe.main.nc.us

USFS policy is that no sawyer ever operate a saw alone. So the minimum work party size is two -- the sawyer and one other person, call them what you will - swamper, assistant, safety valve, etc. This policy is in the USFS Health and Safety Code Handbook -- so it's policy based on regulation, tied to OSHA. I believe that ATC policy mirrors this. For chainsaws, that the second person is NOT required to have any special qualifications == doesn't have to be saw certified, doesn't have to be certified in First Aid or CPR. Of course, there is value in that person being able to give first aid and CPR if the sawyer is hurt, but it's not a requirement. There's been a lot of discussion in a lot of circles about that issue, and the rationale came down to having the sawyer be certified because he's the one person who we are sure is going to be onsite if the saw is operated. And, lots of saw accidents involve injury to folks other than the actual sawyer. Pete Irvine, AT Coordinator, USDA Forest Service, Harpers Ferry, WV 25425 pirvine@fs.fed.us phone: 304-535-6737

Those of you wish to get your certification or re-certification done, the Transylvania American Red Cross is offering first aid courses on the following schedule:

CPR: Tuesday, November 30 6 PM - 10 PM
Saturday, December 11 2 PM - 6 PM
Thursday, December 16 9 AM - 1 PM

CPR: Refresher (Must have a current Adult CPR card & a skill card with them)
Tuesday, November 30 6 PM - 9 PM

First Aid: Wednesday, December 8 9 AM - 1 PM
Saturday, December 11 9 AM - 1 PM (Note this is "piggy- backed" with CPR so both certifications can be accomplished on the same day.

The costs for the classes are: CPR - $30.00 First Aid - $20.00. This expense is NOT reimbursable by the Forest Service. If you wish to wait until the classes are held on the Pisgah Ranger District, the District will likely pick up the entire costs.

There is also a "Wilderness First Aid Basics" course that will be offered if enough are interested. The course is approved by the American Camping Association and the Boy Scouts of America and is very comprehensive for those of us that work the "back-country". I am in the process of trying to determine if this course will meet the requirements of the U. S. Forest Service. Anyone interested in this 2 day class, please let me know. Bruce Ryden, Volunteer Trail Maintenance Coordinator, Pisgah Ranger District, bruceeryden@aol.com .

Our agreements with the Forest Service and other government entities require that chain saw operators be certified in chain saw operation and that they have first aid and CPR training. The Education Committee has developed a CMC centralized database recording the sawyer certifications and expiration dates. An up to date list of qualified sawyers is maintained on the CMC web site. It is the individual responsibility of each sawyer to report certification changes to: cmctm@carolinamtnclub.org .Currently 60% of the chain saw operators do not have the required certifications. Please do NOT saw for the CMC or any other public organization unless you are properly certified.

Hendersonville Friday Trail Maintenance Volunteers in order of seniority, active member

Congratulations to all of the members of this crew. As you can see the dedication is deep in this team which goes back to the late Harlow Hoskins and his efforts for about 20 years leading this group. Now Bill Newton has taken everything to a new level. Please thank each of these folks when you see them. Think about how much work has been done over the years by these maintainers. Thank you for all you do!

D. R. Kulp * Jan. 12,1990 Jim Tanquary * Jan. 12, 1990 Tommy Wilson * Feb 9, 1990 Dale Vogel * Oct. 29, 1993 Jack Mazurowski July 29, 1994 Bill Newton * Sep 30, 1994 Neal Andreae * Dec 16, 1994 Terry Eld * Jun 9, 1995 Pete Petersen * Jan 26, 1996 John Van Valen Jun 21, 1996 Jerry Kuhlmann * Oct 18, 1996 Dave Beardsley * Jun 27, 1997 Bob Broderick * Jun 30, 2000 Jim Crouse * Jun 30, 2000 Al Williams Feb 16, 2001 Robert Rehrer * Mar 1, 2002 Harvey Fichtelberg * Mar 8, 2002 John Soldati * Nov. 8, 2002 Jack Luebbe Jan. 31, 2003 Larry Schwake Oct. 24, 2003 Ralph Turnberg Apr. 9, 2004 Walt Weber * Sep, 29, 2004 * Original members – start of crew.

Save the date - February 5, 2005 - for the FMST Annual meeting in Greensboro, NC. This years guest speaker will be Deirdre F. Hewitt with the RTCA program under the National Park Service in Asheville, NC. She will tell us all about the RTCA program; you can visit here for more info: http://www.nps.gov/rtca/ . The FMST is discussing along with the Department of Parks and Recreation in using this program for the MST East Plan. This meeting of Task Forces has proven to benefit the MST with reports and planning for the new year. Information will be mailed out in the near future about this meeting. Thanks for your time. Jeff Brewer www.ncmst.org

A record of each person certified to operate a chainsaw on trails that the CMC maintains has been added to the web site. The list is intended to serve several purposes. First, the list will show for the first time the names and location of the sawyers that are available to contact to help clear the trails that we are responsible for. Second, the listing also accumulates for the first time our expiration dates for the three certifications that you must have to remove trees for the Forest Service and National Park Systems in our region. The three certifications are: Sawyer, First Aid and CPR. The typical terms of certification are 3 years for sawyer, 2 years for First Aid and 1 year for CPR. the listing may viewed here: Sawyer Certification List

Friday is another day at the Sandburg NP. Jim, Dave, DR and Neal have all scouted the trails and have lined up plenty of work for us installing water bars and improving trail drainage. They have done lots of preliminary work, so let's get out and finish up the job. Meet in the front parking lot (main lot) at 8. As always, please let me know if you will be out. Bill

Folks, I understand that you didn't get out last week, so it's back to the log pile again this Friday. Meeting place will be Home Depot at exit 44 of I-40 for the Asheville crowd, and Ingles at 7:20 for the Hendersonville folks. There are camp sites to clear for non-log-moving people, so bring digging tools and loppers if that's where you plan to work. Alan, please bring the rope. Howard, bring the repaired cart wheels. We may or may not work the Friday following Thanksgiving depending on how many folks want to go out. In your reply to this note, please let me know if you want to work that day, so I know whether to organize a crew or not. Thanks. Skip

John Soldati's Wednesday Work Crew

Ladies and Gentlemen: We will MEET at Weaverville Wednesday, November 17 at 8:00 AM. Dress for early cold, then moderate cool after 10:00 AM. We will try for H. Rocks on the AT via Whispering Gap. I will ask Jorge to bring a saw. We will be in two groups...hope everyone can turn out. See you at Weaverville...as usual please REPLY soonest. If I can hear from all by late afternoon, it will make it easier for me to plan the day. Thanks. JS

Post Work Report: After six weeks of planning each Wednesday to roll into Yancey County and take on the Appalachian Trail's Whispering Gap to High Rocks section, we finally made it! With our big six out today, we found the entry gate and rode on new planted US Forest Service grass all the way to Whispering Gap. Jane, Bob, Barth, Charlie and our knowledgeable historian and pathfinder, Jorge got us up and back while taking the scenic route the "long way" home. Put in 13 new steps and silt bars; removed more than a dozen trees and cleaned and dug out 15 steps under High Rocks. The new steps are both on the south and north bound trail around H. Rocks. We could have placed another 5 or 6 below our four on the south side, but time was pressing. The AT is clear from just north of Little Bald Mt. all the way to Spivey Gap as well. Good day guys...thanks. Official Report follows. JS

Mile Lang's Monday Work Crew

What was anticipated as a relatively easy day turned out to be very good exercise. We installed 3 new steps on a section above Glassmine. We tackled the signage on the section from the Craggy visitor center to Douglas Falls. Using a brilliant new method of Don Walton's to create signs on the spot, we installed and/or modified 5 signs relating to the MST and Douglas Falls trail using the new approach to sign building. We don't want to disclose the technique until it is patented. It uses cement for which we do not have to carry water for the mix. Work on that. Carrying cement is a challenge on a long hike. At least we don't have to carry it back. The MST trail between Craggy visitor center and the Douglas Falls trail has a wet spot about .6 miles from the visitor center which requires rock work. The are one or two spots which could use a bit of tread work. It can be done with a small crew in one outing. Barth