2. Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Active Living By Design Grant: RWJF is allocating 16.5 million dollars to be awarded to 25 partnerships across the US who have programs to promote and provide active living health opportunities in their proposed regions. A total of $200,000 can be requested for each project. Our project is called the Gallup Trails Active Living Partnership. Connections Inc, a local youth counseling organization, is the fiscal agent for the grant proposal, but Gallup Trails 2010 Inc. is the lead organization of the project. At the end of January 2003, a brief proposal was submitted for review. In March 2003, select applicants will be asked to submit a full proposal, in August 2003, recipients will be notified if they will be awarded any or all of the requested funds and in November 2003, funding will commence.

3. Plans for Comprehensive Multiuse Trail System: GT 2010 hopes to use the potential funds from RWJ to develop the partnership, program, policy and personnel needed to create the HOPE (Health Opportunities for Protecting the Environment) Urban Trails and Adventure Gallup Recreational Trails. The HOPE trails are focused on providing pedestrians safe and enjoyable routes to destinations all around the city as well as create connections to the surrounding recreational trails. Much planning has been done on the Canyon Walk section of the HOPE Trails; flagging and GPS mapping of the Gamerco West section of the AGB Recreational trails has already begun. The mapping of Gamerco West was completed in the middle of February 2003 and the International Mountain Bike Association (IMBA) will be conducting a trail building workshop in the middle of March 2003. The Gamerco West trails represent the first system of legal trails that the public will have legitimate access to and that Gallup Trails 2010 Inc. and Adventure Gallup and Beyond initiative will be able to market to the community and to tourists.

4. VISTA Volunteer - Gallup Trails 2010 Inc.: In October of 2002 the Gallup Trails 2010 Inc. Board of Directors appointed Charlie Koehler, a VISTA volunteer, to help staff the Corporation. He is in charge of writing agendas, organizing meetings, keeping and distributing minutes from meetings and essentially is the only “full-time staff person” in charge of keeping the organizational development moving with the help of a consultant who was hired temporarily by the Northwest New Mexico Community Development Corporation to help organize and develop Gallup Trails 2010 Inc. as well as author the brief proposal for the RWJ grant. Potentially, after the VISTA project is over, a full time paid position will become available as the staff of GT 2010 and or the Project Coordinator for the potential RWJ Grant. The true goal of the GT 2010 VISTA is to help create sustainability for organization so that it can help to promote economic development through adventure tourism indefinitely.

5. Consultation with Trails 2000 of Durango, CO: In November, Charlie Koehler set up a meeting among the Board of Directors of Gallup Trails 2010 Inc., the Director of Trails 2000 in Durango and himself. Trails 2000 is a trails advocacy group that was formed in Durango 13 years ago. Gallup Trails 2010 Inc. has been consulting with them on various levels. GT 2010 has harvested ideas, and various example documents from them how they could use Trails 2000 as a model to organize their group, and also about getting access to land for trail use.

6. Meeting with the BLM: Charlie met with the Recreational Land Use Planners of the BLM – Farmington Field Office to learn about creating a formal partnership with them when we are ready to build trails on their land at the North Hogback (an amazing geological feature that runs through Gallup and continues fro miles), to show them the areas of land that were set aside by the Recreational Purposes Act and to investigate the feasibility of doing a land swap in order to acquire land more suitable for trail development.