NFARA Update

February 14,2005

By Jim Ricker

After several months of work and procrastination, we have finally submitted our Tax Exempt Applications to the IRS and the Franchise Tax Board; it should take about 3 months to process the forms. By the next issue of Community, barring any problems, NFARA will officially be a tax exempt, non-profit, public benefit corporation. One advantage of this is all donations to NFARA will be tax deductible. A membership/donation drive will begin as soon as we receive our tax exempt certification.

The community education programs we host are one of the major activities that qualifies NFARA as a public benefit corporation. Last year we hosted three wonderful programs and plan to do more in 2005. On May 17 at 7:00 pm at the Dutch Flat Community Center join us for a presentation by Evan Jones and Bob Griffis on their new book Take a Hike! A Guide to Lesser Known and Often More Challenging Trails in the Gold Country. Other programs are in the works.

In other news, the Folsom Field Office of the Bureau of Land Management is updating its Resource Management Plan (RMP). The BLM will hold several workshops to give the public an opportunity to meet with staff, discuss management issues and submit comments on what the BLM ought to do. A meeting in Colfax, emphasizing the North Fork region, will be held on March 23 at Colfax High School at 6:30 pm and 8:30 pm. Written comments will be accepted until March 31. For more info see BLM website at ca.blm.gov/folsom. NFARA plans to attend the Colfax meeting and take the opportunity to submit detailed comments.

For more information contact Jim Ricker at 530-389-8344