The recently concluded Ranger Rendezvous in Charleston was a great success. There were more first-time attendees present than I can recall from the past several gatherings and there was an abundance of positive energy and ideas. The entire membership owes the Rendezvous coordinator, Dan Moses, and agenda chairperson, Erin Broadbent, a collective thank you for their hard work.

The State of the Association address can give those unable to attend a picture of where the association currently is so I will not repeat the points I made there.

I would like to take this time to look forward to the next Rendezvous in Coeur d’Alene. I urge the membership to continue to support the association by attending the next Ranger Rendezvous in November 2006. Make plans now to save time and money so we can all meet to renew friendships, make new ones, learn something new and work to make ANPR better.

We are still seeking individuals to serve as agenda chairs and to assist with all the behind the scene tasks necessary to make an event successful. If you are interested in helping with the next Rendezvous contact Dan Moses or me for more information. The facility in Coeur d’Alene is perhaps the best to ever host a Rendezvous, so please give serious thought to attending or helping.

Something I would like the whole membership to think about between now and November is the direction ANPR needs to go in 2007 and beyond. I say that because nominations will be open in November for three extremely important positions on the ANPR Board of Directors.

The first is the position for fundraising. I am sure all of you realize how important this position has become as we strive to find new sources of revenue to keep operations going. The second is the position for membership. Now that we are stable financially this is the area I want to concentrate on the rest of my term. We need to attract new members from all disciplines if we are to continue to grow and gain strength. The third is the position of president-elect. Despite my term running through 2007, the incoming president serves one year as a non-voting member of the board before assuming office in 2008. So please think about these important positions now.

We need to continue the momentum I witnessed in Charleston and project it well into the future. That will require dedicated and competent people to fill these positions to ensure that ANPR will continue the work of helping parks, visitors and each other.