President's Corner

Happy New Year fellow trail users. My name is John Wallace. Iwas elected president of our association at last October's membership meeting. I have been a member since buying a property in the SW corner of the trees on Falcon Drive in the fall of 2017. Iwas an at-large board member until 2022 and treasurer in 2023.

I grew up on Long Island, on 5-acre lot 23 miles from New York City, in an amazingly rural environment where we could not see the light of another house at night. I spent my younger days wandering in the woods, drinking from natural springs (without a purifier), and learning about the natural world. In my travels since, I have lived in upstate New York, Montana, Saudi Arabia, Colorado (San Luis Valley), Idaho, Washington, Wisconsin, England (Cambridge), Nebraska, Colorado (Colorado City), Oregon, and back to Colorado (Colorado Springs and Black Forest). The Rocky Mountain Front Range is my favorite climate and location in the country.

I have attended 5 different universities, with my first degree in soil science leading to two glorious summers camping out full time in three National Forests in SW Montana describing soils and erosion, in amazing, remote locations, randomly chosen by a computer in Washington D.C. After graduating, there were no soil science opportunities in wildland due to a federal hiring freeze. Imoved over to agriculture, specializing in efficient irrigation water management for my M.S. degree. After a year growing wheat in Saudi Arabia, I spent three years with an irrigation and farm consulting company in the San Luis Valley and discovered the potato's fascinatingly complex biology and production systems. Back to school I went for a Ph.D. in horticulture and began my career as an agricultural research scientist and partner in a multi-state potato farming operation. I retired in 2015 and my email name and occasional nickname, Potatodoc, is my only remaining connection to the potato industry.

My present activities include remodeling a great 50-year-old house, occasional travel, and advancing the cause of interconnecting trails in the Black Forest and all of El Paso County. I am the friend/adopter of Black Forest Regional Park, a member of the EPC Parks Advisory Board, and now President of BFTA. Those roles have helped me become familiar with the personnel policies, and politics of our local parks, trails and open spaces. My objectives in this involvement include:

• Increasing the miles of trail rights of way (ROW) in the county
• Encouraging the actual building of trials on those rights of way (separate goals as described in another article)
• Developing connecting social trails where needed to connect with existing/proposed trails and open spaces.
• Increasing awareness of, and compliance with Leave No Trace principles of outdoor recreation.
• Working with civic and government partners to fund building out the proposed regional and secondary trails.
• Modernizing BFTA's computer records and systems for easier sharing and greater transparency among the board of directors
• Improving BFTA's digital engagement with young people and new residents in our community

I look forward to working with our new officers and board members and look forward to meeting lots of our members in person at future events.