Mt. Vernon Trail Stakeholders Meeting, Saturday 9/8

[Judd]

The National Park Services George Washington Memorial Parkway will hold the next Mt. Vernon Trail stakeholders meeting on Saturday, September 8th from 10:00 to 11:30 at the former Indigo Landing on Daingerfield Island. All are welcome to attend. This is the third meeting this year and in previous meetings attendees have discussed formation of a Friends of the Mt. Vernon Trail group. Individuals interested helping to form a Friends group are invited to stay after this meeting for a FOMVT organizational meeting. Komorebi will provide home baked cookies.


From the NPS e-mail:
I am writing to extend an invitation to our next stakeholder meeting. It will be held at the meeting room at Daingerfield Island on Saturday, September 8th from 10 -11:30 am.

On the agenda:

- Public Lands Day (September 22) four volunteer cleanups planned for the Mount Vernon Trail;

- Stakeholder site visit to 4 Mile Run and MVT intersection to make safety recommendations (October 13);

- Updates on the current MVT safety study;

- Updates on Share the Trail etiquette and campaign.

As always, coffee and refreshments will be provided. Feel free to pass this invitation on to other interested individuals.

[Judd]

Notes from the Mt. Vernon Trail Stakeholders Meeting with NPS on 9/8

Venue Note:
Future stakeholder meetings will have to be held at a future location. The current location is owned by NPS, but is leased by a concession. Future use potentially presents the appearance of a conflict of interest. NPS staff will secure a different location.

Public Lands Days – September 22nd
NPS will host 4 events for trail cleanup and vegetation management. NPS will provide supplies.
Nationally it is the largest volunteer day for NPS
1. TR Island Clean Up – Registration is full
2. Gravelly Point – 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Zero registrations currently. NPS Mobile Visitor Center will be there. This is focused on engaging “drop in” volunteers.
3. Dyke Marsh – Noon to 3. 50 people signed up.
4. Riverside Park – 1 person signed up.
Department of Interior Snapchat will occur at events
NPS Arrowhead to take selfies will be at events
First 250 get t-shirts
Attendees will receive 1 free visitor pass for a National Park
Sign up online at: https://www.neefusa.org/event-locator

Trail Signs
Second set of signs now on the trail which are double sided
NPS coordinated with Arlington, Alexandria and Fairfax County on sign message and each jurisdiction’s logo is on the sign
NPS is currently taking down the signs daily because a previous set of signs were thrown in the Potomac by a vandal.
Casey suggested a set of Spanish language signs. NPS indicated that they would like to do this in the future and that they have Spanish language versions of literature at events.

Volpe Trail Safety Study
Trail safety study is still in progress.
One cyclist has provided map with specific trouble spots and suggested improvements. This feedback is welcome and will be passed to the Volpe team
Team will do a site visit on October 13th at 10 a.m. to the intersection of 4MR Trail and MVT. All are welcome to attend.

Mt. Vernon Trail Merchandise
Eastern National runs all of the gift shops for NPS
A portion of the sales goes back to the facility
NPS would like to have some MVT merchandise and will seek feedback on design
1. Bike jersey (request made to ensure women cut jerseys)
2. Run/walk tech shirt
3. Water bottle

Parking Day – September 21st
NPS will participate in Alexandria’s parking day and are hoping for a space on King St.

[mstone]

NPS is currently taking down the signs daily because a previous set of signs were thrown in the Potomac by a vandal.

wait, what?

[Judd]

wait, what?

Apparently someone has really strong opinions on stuff like “Ring your bell and pass on the left”. Unfortunately a whole set of signs was lost.