 Welcome to the second annual 15 by 15. Who was here last year? Okay. So you guys know how this works. What we're going to do is we are going to hear seven different presentations from people. I think they're all Portlanders or greater Portlanders who are doing some really cool work in town or having some fun across the world related to land conservation, trails, active transportation, and generally increasing the health and sustainability of our fair city and this community. The way it's going to work with the slides is, it's called 15 by 15. Each presentation, there will be 15 slides, and the presenters will have 15 minutes per slide, which comes out to three hours per presentation. So we should be out of here probably by tomorrow evening. Actually, okay. I'm only kidding, 15 seconds per slide. A quick story about that. Last year, I was one of the presenters, and I was chatting with another presenter about a half hour before we went on, and I said to this person, who will remain nameless? I said, are you nervous? He said, well, on my way over, I memorized it and I'm thinking, wow, you memorized four minutes of presentation, that's pretty good. He said, well, it's only 15 seconds and I said, well, per slide. So basically, this person thought they had 15 seconds to run through the whole slide. So they had, actually, it was pretty amazing. You would never have known watching the presentation. And if anyone's out there, you probably wouldn't have noticed. So that's the kind of talent we bring to you. People who can adapt on a moment's notice. And if we did need them to do 15 minutes per slide, I'm sure they could pull it off tonight. But we are going to stick with 15 seconds. So that's just under four minutes, and it's actually automated. The slides are going to switch over automatically. So that is going to keep things moving. Most of these people have never done a slideshow like this before. And so here's the thing. Your job as an audience is very important here. It's pretty simple, but it's important. Here's the rules. You need to cheer wildly. Okay, that's most important. Listen attentively, not while you're cheering wildly. And then discuss passionately. There'll be an intermission in the middle. We'll hear from, I guess we'll hear from four people, and then we'll take a little break for 15 minutes. And discuss passionately during the break. And then afterwards, share the news with people tomorrow. But yeah, none of this is to be taken too seriously. That's what I kept saying last year before I went on. But some people are doing things that are at the core of their lives though. So we want to really be supportive. So we'll hear from four. We'll have an intermission, then we'll hear from three more. And one reminder, of course, please turn off your cell phones. I don't even have mine on me, okay? Even if you know it's off, check right now, make sure it's off. And we've got, let's see, this is our bell. Sounds pretty, it's like a little cow bell. The presenters, as they come up, they're gonna ring the bell to get started. That's the signal to the tech team to start the slide show. And then, like I said, 15 seconds per slide. So that's the plan. Let's jump right in. And the very first presenter tonight is our very own trails manager, Jamie Parker. So I've got a little intro here. How many of you know Jamie in some way? Okay, those of you who didn't raise their hand probably have been in Portland like a week or less, I'm thinking, because otherwise you'll have known Jamie or you'll have heard about him or you'll have enjoyed some of the fine work he's done over the years. Jamie was basically born to be the trails manager of Portland trails. And I say that, I mean, here's the deal. When he was 16 years old, he wrote a letter to the editor in Massachusetts where he grew up protesting the attempted closing of a path in Rockport. I mean, come on. And for his bachelor party on Martha's Vineyard, he and his friends completed an overnight track using as many modes of transportation as possible. Biking, hiking, swimming, kayaking. Like I said, born hitchhiking, it's on here. Skateboarding, public bus. So that's about eight different things right there. So yeah, we are so thrilled to have Jamie. He's been here as long as I've been with Portland Trails, which is about eight or nine years, probably longer, 10 years. We gotta have a party for you soon. Okay, so come on up, Jamie Parker. Thanks everyone, welcome. There we go. Edward Abbey said that the best thing about walking is the journey itself. It doesn't matter much whether you get where you're going or not, you'll get there anyway. And that's the great thing about trails. They bring you on a journey. Our trails bring you to work, to school, to favorite natural places, or in new directions entirely. There's always the journey. In 2013, we've provided some new options to help protect some favorite destinations for people in the Kanka Woods neighborhood. There's a treasured green space that's now protected and under our stewardship. It can be a new discovery for generations to come. The Stradwater Trail is an old friend, one of our first trails. In 2013, we extended it over a mile into Westbrook, opening up new territory for exploration and providing access for a whole new group of people. And we plan to extend that farther in 2014. We worked with the city and the housing authority to build the first leg of the Boyd Street Trail. This summer, phase two, will link to the Bayside Trail and hence the Bat Cove, providing access to a neighborhood disconnected by urban renewal. Because we believe that everyone should have access to trails, transportation options, and the natural world. We continue our work with schools to provide kids with a healthy, diverse creative play and learning environment. Natural and creative play spaces are proven to increase test scores, but more importantly, they enrich children's lives on a daily basis. One of our biggest school ground greening projects ever is underway at Nation's Corner Park. This is a public park project adjacent to Breakwater School and represents a partnership with Breakwater, the city and the neighborhood. Portland Trails is managing the project and installing many of the features and it should be open this summer. We continue our work with volunteers, logging over 3,000 hours of volunteer time on the trails this year. This builds our community network and gets good work done improving trails. Much of this work was enabled by our volunteer coordinator of six years, Charlie Baldwin, who has moved on from Portland Trails so we wanted to thank him for all his work. We continue to work with the city and the community on these planning efforts. Spring Street redesign, which is in final, final design right now. Numerous projects in Libbytown, trying to make these areas more livable for residents. We're a major stakeholder in the effort to redesign Franklin Street. There's so much potential for better connectivity, economic development and improved infrastructure for active transportation. And there's a meeting tonight and see me after it'll be going on after this. So if anyone wants to join me. We're doing this type of work all over the city, through community meetings, representation on committees and general advocacy for more walkable, bikeable environment. There is a lot of change happening right now in the city, including the midtown development and the development of our beloved jackpath shown here. We have consistently been at the table, not for or against a project, but advocating strongly for better access and facilities and the projects are better for it. In this case, we'll see Portland's first shared street. And placemaking is a word that you'll be hearing more from us. It's a broad term for creating and then activating places in our community. Trails, open spaces, streets, public squares, pocket parks can all be venues for placemaking and linking these places with trails and sidewalks is key. Parking day is a clear example of placemaking, taking over a parking spot for a day or two as we did out in front of our office and inviting people to come and sit and create a little community. It's a new way to think about the use of public spaces. We hope that there'll be many more placemaking opportunities in 2014, including open streets events, which you'll hear more about from Cara and other exciting projects that we're involved in with. Portland Trails hopes to work with all of you to enliven our public spaces for recreation, transportation, exploration and contemplation for, as Nietzsche said, all truly great thoughts are conceived by walking. We hope our trails will inspire some truly great thoughts for you this year. Thank you. Thank you, Jamie. One more time. Wildly, wildly. All right. Okay, now we're gonna do something completely different. I happen to know what the next subject is about. Last year, my family and I gave a presentation about a bicycle trip we took. And so we cast about for the most interesting kind of bicycle trip adventure to present to you tonight. And we didn't have to look far. Our own Manjoy Hill has, where Jean Geslin and Lucy Somo live. And I've never met them, well, I've met them briefly before tonight, but I'm excited to share them with you. Lucy is a native of Maine, but she's lived in France for many years. She recently returned home. And in France, she worked on a newspaper based in Serbia. That's kind of cool. Ask her about that over the break. She's worked with the European organizations in Brussels. She's traveled all over the world. You might see a little bit of that right tonight. She's a UMass Boston graduate. And her master's, of course, is from the University of Bologna in Italy. Jean was born and raised in France and graduated from the University of Montpellier. I assume not anything to do with Vermont. And he works with the remediation of mining and other industrial sites with nuclear contamination. And he works for the state of Maine. And I'm not quite sure what he's doing with the nuclear contamination here, but you can ask him about that during the break. So let me just say, I would recommend if you have a helmet putting it on for this next presentation. Let's welcome Lucy and Jean. Can we start? Okay. In July 2011, my husband and I left on a bicycle trip across Russia, Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Europe. Along the way we discovered and rediscovered how bicycle travel is a unique way to meet local people and explore a region. After spending the night at the family of this boy, we woke up to a bowl of fresh milk and got an escort out of the village to make sure we would find our way to the next road. Receiving directions, both good and bad, is an important part of any bicycle trip. Speaking of which, after getting lost in the countryside of Tatarstan, we stopped to ask for a field to sleep in and ended up spending the night learning Russian folk songs, drinking vodka, and playing the accordion. Sometimes the road gets long, hot, and the asphalt melts. After switching alphabets at the border of Kazakhstan, we lost our way and ended up biking and biking with no end in sight. At the end of that day, a glass of Coke had never tasted so good. Villagers sometimes warned us of dangers of lurking in the next town over. But more often than not, we ended up in a warm house, drinking tea from the samovar, being introduced to local music, and comparing the milk production of a cow in Kazakhstan versus one in France. Parts of the trip left us feeling desolate. Along the bumpy roads of Kyrgyzstan, there wasn't much food to buy beyond chips and Coke. There was consolation at the end of this day, catching a game of cock-burrow or polo with an inflated dead goat as the ball. Maps and directions really were an integral part of the trip. Here we took in the morning over shared chunks of bread in Nutella, and the woman in the pink kerchief tasted coffee for the first time. The beauty of the bike is that you are approachable to almost everyone. Men riding donkeys that are pulling wood, kids waiting for the bus, and watermelon vendors on the side of the road, eager to share their wares and tell us about the region. The people of Uzbekistan, a relatively closed dictatorship in Central Asia, are extremely friendly to foreign travelers. Lying along the silk road, this country has been accustomed to voyagers on its roads for centuries. Despite the local hospitality, we were sick for much of our time in Uzbekistan. After a long night spent crouched over the toilet, we woke up to two flat tires. Luckily, we had camped next to the gas station and vulcanizazia, who patched us up in no time. The other feature of Uzbekistan is field upon field of cotton, a product that is destroying the country's environment. In what was once a port city on the Aral Sea, there are now hundreds of miles of sand before one reaches the edge of water. We had the good luck of camping in the field of the local geography teacher here, who pulled out her maps to give an impromptu lesson to neighborhood kids. Cotton pervades Uzbekistan. We met this irrigation engineer, working on feeding the ever thirsty fields next to the canal. We spent the night with his family and with students and a teacher from the city who had been bussed in to pick cotton. Sometimes you find out too late that it's best to follow the advice of the Azeri locals who try to convince you that there is too much mud to bike. And then you end up pushing your bike for eight hours, stopping every few minutes to scrape mud from between your fenders and tires, and you only go eight miles. Tea is everywhere in this part of the world. It's a method to sanitize water from the canal, a way to cool off after asana, and a reason to come in from the cold. Thank you. Thank you, Lucy and Jean. All right, one more time. Settle down. Okay. Okay. Thatting third is Amy Winton. Where's Amy? I don't know Amy. There she is. Okay. So Amy has a dog named Gospacho. That's pretty much all you need to know about her. She's pretty cool. No, she likes to take pictures. Gospacho is 16 pound conquistador. And so Amy taught people pre-K through graduate school in Berkeley, but then came back to Maine to be near her in-laws. That's a good sign. And found herself stripped of all teaching credentials so she could reinvent who she is going to be when she grows up. She's a great photographer, tireless advocate and a machine for the library expansion project in Falmouth. Well, I wanna hear more about that. She sang, Amy sang acapella in college and she's serious about beer. So I'm thinking, I'm hoping she's had some beers tonight and I believe she's gonna be singing her presentation. No. So let's welcome Amy Winton. Playing this bell, huh? I've always enjoyed spying because I like authenticity. I don't like anything fake. So using a camera as a sort of mask keeps me from meddling in this case in children's outdoor play. I hope that some of the images I capture will help others see what amazing accomplishments are happening with the Schoolground Greening Coalition. I love to shift the focus toward the expressions and here I'm spying patience, just an eagerness to watch and wait for things to change, a chance to notice or catch it in the act. Here I tried to focus on action and all I can see is this unrestrained enthusiasm and her hurdles around a group of otherwise simple natural objects. But place like this, they prompt a new challenge and even the possibility that they could be something other. Outside I also spike a lot of contemplation, respectful collaboration and private quiet spaces. There's room for everyone's ideas. Kinda reminds me of a cozy recital hall. This was hardly spying. She was actually performing for me this phenomenal risk and willingness to take it. She's flying high and building strength and confidence and courage, not to mention the respect of her peers who are watching her from the other swings. And outside I always spy empathy. Mortality is a pretty scary idea that we often think we need to protect our children from. But it's all around us outside and I just see curiosity and acceptance in that tender grasp. I also see a great deal of humility outside. It's like we're put in our place. No object no matter how common is boring when you have time to thoroughly investigate it under the sun and the wind and away from all the noise we encounter in a classroom. I spy leadership in a case, in this case really creative mischievous leadership rallying an audience to follow the boy on the right's imagination. He's saying, guys there's blood over here, look! And they were berries but boy did he draw a crowd. I also spy this dreamy wondering. She's inventing and imagining what lies within these silky red branches that caught her attention and what could be there beyond her reach. I love when I can spy loyalty and tradition. Elders passing on their commitment and satisfaction with the earth, pointing out beauty and value and a work ethic that youth might not know otherwise existed there in the pumpkin patch. Outside I also spy a lot of focus and taking time to delve in and thoroughly study an object's color, shape, form, or even sound are the very fundamental skills we need all problem solvers to have. Outside I spy grit, especially here in Maine. Kids need to develop some loud and tough resilience to often savage conditions like having a big brother in this case, that's my daughter. But I also see a lot of comedy, Kathleen. When the conditions are less than comfortable you just have to lighten up, put an idea on its head and turn things around. The range of conditions that outside presents focuses one to adapt and forces you to adapt and remain flexible. And I spy love a lot. I just see teachers keeping it real and showing their enthusiasm and it's just downright contagious. So my secret's out. Outside I spy young people who are allowed to be curious, courageous, loyal, loving, mischievous, resilient, creative, humble, strong, focused dreamers. So please don't interrupt them, they're working. Hey, thank you, Amy, that was awesome. So, number four clean up here is, we're gonna hear from Emmett Freeman and Haley Flate. Where are you guys? I hope you're here. Good, all right. So they come to us from Mecca. Emmett is from Concord, New Hampshire. With an interest in ceramics and he's inspired by human nature and what drives people. When not at Mecca, he likes to explore Portland and its food and take advantage of our live music. That sounds like you're getting the most out of your education. Haley Flate grew up in Woburn, Mass and graduated from high school there. Her artwork is influenced by music and pop culture. When she's not creating artwork, you can find her singing, laughing with her younger brother, Jared, or baking cookies. I'm excited to see what they've got for us. I have no idea what it is. They don't tell me, it's a surprise for me, most of these. So I'm looking forward to hearing from Emmett and Haley, come on up. Hello, this past fall, Haley and I are in our first semester at the Main College of Art. Every freshman takes a class combining a studio course and local community partner. We took the class Portland Harbor Walk. Our partner was the Portland Trails. We focused on the Portland Harbor Walk Trail for the entirety of our class. The section we dealt with the most started at East End Beach and ended at the Casco Bay Bridge and Harborview Memorial Park. Our whole class got to know Commercial Street very well. In the class, we did quite a few projects. We started a year by taking note of local signage throughout Portland and making our own signs out of this. We then moved in creating sensory maps of the Harbor Walk Trail in an accordion book of that trail as well. Our main project was to create a large dots that could be placed as signs on the sidewalk. Throughout the semester, we worked on creating postcards in 15 minutes at the beginning of class. Each postcard was inspired by quotes from the book of Field Guide to Getting Lost by Rebecca Solnit, such as, to be lost is to be fully present and to be fully present is to be capable of being in uncertainty and mystery. For the sensory maps, we were told to go down to the waterfront and take it in. We then had to create a map of one sense, such as smell or texture, that would express clearly what the trail was. I chose to use the world of sound in my project and brought a sound recorder down to the Harbor Walk Trail and through QR codes created a guided walking experience. Our final project was based off of the You Are Here AIGA Toledo project. This project placed three by three foot vinyl dots on the ground to bring a sense of beauty to landmarks across the city. The dots were our most intensive project. Our class all made two dots each that would ideally be located in different spots around the trail. In our final critique, we had Jamie Parker, Kara Wildrich, and Bill Needleman come in. This was a mixture of a critique and the experience of presenting our work in a professional way to people who could potentially make our ideas come to life. The purpose of my first dot, Keep On, is to motivate passerby to continue biking, walking, or running along the Eastern Prom Trail. Buoys, boat flags, and seagrass decorate my dot to emphasize the coastline. I wanted to focus on the iconic bug light in my second dot. This dot shows walkers and bikers along the Casco Bay Bridge. What is to come if they continue on the trail? For my hello goodbye dot, I was interested in the idea of people coming in and out of the city through the Casco Bay lines. I wanted to create a dot that would welcome people into the city. For my second dot, I was interested in the idea of peacefulness. The end of the Portland pier is a very common relaxing spot, and I wanted to try and relay this feeling through text and imagery. The first time my family visited in Portland, we walked down to the East End Beach. They thought it was amazing that I could go from a city to a scenic, peaceful beach in a matter of minutes. I consider myself extremely lucky to have the privilege of de-stressing by taking a walk along the harbor. And another time, after walking by the International Ferry Terminal, my friend and I were stopped by a man speaking broken English. We slowly figured out that he wanted us to take a picture of him in front of the terminal. I thought it was the cutest thing. He must have been on a cruise. Maybe it was his first picture taken in Portland. My experiences with the Portland trails were some of the best since I've moved here to Portland. Jamie Parker came to give us a presentation to our class that showed us many trails around Portland, and it sparked my need for adventure. I went to explore the Jack Path and the view over Portland right away. I'm sure many of you know that the Jack Path leads into the eastern prom, which has also been a major part of getting to know Portland. This trail has offered me a place to show my family when they visit and for myself a wonderful flat surface to learn how to longboard on. This all comes back around to the Portland Pier once again. This location, I believe, may be one of the most peaceful and beautiful places to go, sit and think. Without Portland trails, I might have never even discovered this place. As you can tell, the Portland Harborwalk Trail means a lot to us. And in closing, on behalf of my entire class, I'd like to thank Portland trails for all that they've done. All right. Thanks, Emmett and Haley. All right. Time to stretch. What good news is we're ahead of schedule, so we'll take 15 minutes and we'll see you back here for three more dynamite presentations. Okay. So joining me in some moral support for the next introduction is my daughter Cedar. She was one of the presenters last year and she didn't want a speaking role, but she's up here to give me support. And that actually brings up how I got this gig tonight. Bruce Hyman was the emcee last year and he's actually at the meeting, the Franklin Street meeting. So Kara asked like 10 people and they all said no. And then it was my turn. That's what I guess happened. No, actually any presenter this year, you put your name in a hat and you might be picked for emcee next year. So that's just a heads up. I guess I think we told everybody that. So the next presenter is Nancy Grant from Bicycle Coalition of Maine. Nancy is she's executive director of BCM. She is a former and maybe a future Portland trails board member. BCM kind of stole her away a few years ago. No, we're actually glad that she's there right now. Nancy was away in the suburbs for about 20 years, but she in 2007, she moved back into town. And I think she's been on every trail since then. Constant motion, I think of Nancy. Let's see what BCM is up to. I'm excited to hear from Nancy Grant. Feels a little short. Can I raise this? The one part that Rob did not include is I put in my profile that nobody in the world loves Portland trails as much as I do. And he didn't include it for some reason. Oh, okay, hold on one minute. Okay. The Bicycle Coalition of Maine is a statewide nonprofit organization that works to make Maine better for bicycling. We work to make bike friendly streets, communities and laws. We also get more manors biking for transportation, health and fun. On September 7th, 2013, we launched our newest and most ambitious initiative, Bike Maine. The goal of Bike Maine is to promote bicycling and bicycle tourism in all parts of the state while spurring local economic development. Bike Maine is a seven day bike ride and a rolling celebration of Maine's people, places and culture. Each year, Bike Maine will explore a different part of the state, our riders camp in designated host communities each evening and enjoy the local and unique attributes of each town. Bike Maine relies heavily on our host communities to make the ride successful. We in turn focus on giving back economically to those local communities. Last year's route started and ended in Orono and traveled to Dover Foxcroft, Belfast, Castine, Bar Harbor and Ellsworth. In 2013, we had 251 riders, 110 from Maine and 141 from 36 other states and Canada. Our riders ranged from 25 to 76 years old. The main thing they had in common was their quest for a bicycle adventure in Maine. They got that and a lot more. Bike Maine gives host communities the opportunity to showcase what makes them special and unique in Orono. Black Bear Brewery created a special Bike Maine beer and on of our visit, Castine highlighted the Schoonick Bowden. September is peak harvest time in Maine. Not only did we source most of our food locally, we also celebrated local Maine food traditions. We ate venison stew in Dover Foxcroft and enjoyed a lobster bake in Bar Harbor. Each night, our riders got to experience local artists, musicians, storytellers and visual artists. In Belfast, for example, our evening started with Belfast's poet laureate who read the poem she wrote in honor of Bike Maine. We then participated in Belfast's art walk. Maine has a strong environmental ethic. Bike Maine showcased environmental projects along our route and brought scientists to speak to our riders at night about the Penobscot River Dam removal projects, Gulf of Maine fishing, issues and climate change. Since many people first come to Maine for summer camp, we started a Bike Maine tradition of including a traditional camp on our route. Last year we spent a night at Camp Jordan on Branch Pond in Ellsworth. This year our riders will spend a night in another camp complete with water sports, gimp and s'mores. Bike Maine gives a bike coalition the opportunity to deliver our programming to our host communities. On day six of our ride, lunch was hosted by the Cathill School in Eastbrook. That day, 77 students learned about bike safety, participated in a bike rodeo and took a bike ride with our riders. The long term goal of Bike Maine is to return a portion of our profits to the host communities to help them make their towns more bicycle friendly. Bar Harbor took the money they earned from 2013 Bike Maine event to purchase bike racks for their town. Between the money that Bike Maine invested directly in the host communities and the money that riders spent on their own, the total economic impact of the inaugural Bike Maine to the region was $235,000. The word is out. 2013 host communities have shared their experiences with other towns and those towns want in. They see that Bike Maine brings happy and grateful tourists a significant economic opportunity and extensive media focus on their towns. In 2014, our ride will include 350 riders, five new host communities, one new summer camp and all the elements of the 2013 ride that made our riders and host communities so happy. Think about riding with us on September 6th. Bike Maine will be great for you and great for Maine. It's way more than a bike ride. All right. Thank you, Nancy and Bike Maine. Who did it last year? Anyone? I did. Come on. Couple people. All right. Who's gonna do it this year? Come on, everyone in. All right, now I gotta lower this again. Okay. So, we got two more. We got, next we have Rob Whitten. Rob is a fellow Monjoy Hillbilly and he's on the board of Portland trails as well for several years. I'm gonna tell you some other important facts about Rob. His favorite beer is Rising Tide Atlantic Atlantis. His favorite dessert is a ripe pear with Gorgonzola cheese. These are the important things in life. He says sometimes he goes on a little so the 15 by 15 format will keep him in check. We're not gonna give him the 15 minute per slide option. And then this one's pretty cool. He is an accomplished stone skimmer. Apparently he placed in the finals at the Booth Bay Harbor Men's World Championship with 23 skips. That stone just had wings was his comment for the press. I did, by the way, Google this event this afternoon. This 2014 championships are in Scotland and maybe they've always been there. I don't know. So we're not checking resumes. We're not gonna really look too closely at his alleged record there. But let's welcome Rob Whitten. Thank you, Rob Levin. I just want you to know that was the world championships in Booth Bay. So everybody has their own world championship. So just take it with a grain of salt and sadly there's a newcomer who is talent and he's young. I have been totally eclipsed so I'm afraid I'm now a waspin. So anyway, I'm not here to talk about skipping stones. I'm here to talk about destination walking. It's about the journey. My wife Robin is an editor and I'm an architect. We take self-guided walking trips together. We love the Italian countryside with its local fare, its local trails and its wonderful sense of history. Last fall we walked in Tuscany from Montalcino to Viterbo. This is a drawing of our walk about 85 miles over six days along the Francajana, an ancient pilgrimage route. As we walk, we keep a log about our experiences and adventures. We're on vacation. See the wine? I draw and Robin writes. Here's a sample page from our log. Sometimes I fill in around the notes and other time it's drawn first, leaving space for comment. It's always kind of fun how we work all this out. And they hopefully reinforce each other. And some days we even talk about beautiful pages. On a recent walk, we came down from wooded Stony Pass that opened onto San Antimo. It's a beautiful Romanesque cathedral that stands an open country side and it's been there a long time. Inside, we sought protection from the sun, which is hard to believe today, and enjoyed beautifully carved and sculpted spaces that date from the ninth century. And when you hear music in this space, it's unbelievable. Some of the paths and trails are clearly defined. Here's a piece of the Roman road. It's still in use and it's still great walking. After 2,500 years of service, you marvel how it works and walks through the countryside. Other paths require careful navigation and wayfinding. The notes are clear and to the point. At 42 meters, path forks. Take left hand fork curving left. At 414 meters, path forks amongst the pines. Keep right uphill. Robin navigates, I look ahead. We draw and record items along the way. Robin buys a straw hat in the village. Six kittens appear to have the same father. Every column capital is unique in the seventh century crypt. Montefascioni, with a tower and dome, we've seen as a beacon and the end of the day destination. And at the end of the day, it's time to fold up the walking sticks and enjoy the local community. We enjoy patterns in the landscape. We enjoy the shade of an olive grove and the views of Lake Balsena, a site of an ancient volcanic crater. We carry plenty of water, a notebook and the lunch fixing we purchased earlier in the day. Here you see fresh apricots, fresh figs, local dry cured ham, a fabulous local bread with just totally open pores. And our map is always close at hand. We like simple things. A tractor turning the heavy tusk and soils, a shrine by the side of the trail with a vase of freshly cut flowers. We enjoy the patterns in the landscape that's been farmed for centuries. Grape vines, orchards, cedars, market gardens. And we see the forts that guarded the valley and the routes along the pilgrims rock to Rome. As we approach the end of the walk, we begin to think about our next adventure. We hope you enjoy walking in Portland. Way to go, Rob. Take me with you. Okay. And now last but not least, we've got Cara Woldrick, our own executive director. So Cara, she grew up in a warmer place. That could be just about anywhere, I suppose, today. Where most of her life happened outside. At seven years of age, her favorite hobbies were climbing trees, having picnics with her dog in the backyard, and approximately 30 or so years later, things have not changed much. Riding bikes, kayaking, trail running, cross country skiing, Cara's out there. I've also learned tonight two other important facts about Cara, part of her grad school history. First of all, she is an accomplished ultimate Frisbee player. And she is an accomplished wig wearer. Not many people have that skill. And apparently she combines these achievements and can play ultimate Frisbee with outlandish wigs, which I'm thinking might be a future Portland Trail's Discovery Track. We're gonna talk about that at our next meeting. Please welcome Cara Woldrick. I wish I knew that Rob was gonna mind some details about my past, because I would have come with a different outfit. And I would have been happy to share that with you, though you might have taken me a little less seriously, but that's part of me too. At Portland Trails, we work with amazing and generous people. They serve not only as our volunteers, project partners, advisors, members, and donors, but also as our inspiration every day. We are people powered. Portland Trails is over 1,000 members, 3,000 volunteers, 200 contributing local businesses. Portland Trails is 100 acres of conserved land, 60 plus mile trail network, and green learning school grounds at every Portland Public Elementary School. Portland Trails is a voice for the Trenton's formative impact of people powered transportation. We work with developers and city staff to use innovative approaches that respect the past and create a future Portland that is prosperous and healthy. In Bogota, Colombia, every Sunday, the city opens up more than 70 miles of car-free streets to a million pedestrian cyclists, joggers, and skaters. By promoting active public spaces and restricting car use, they reinvented the downtown cityscape. We were inspired. Here in Portland in 2013, we led an effort to close Baxter Boulevard to cars every Sunday so that families could bike and skate and reclaim the public spaces for human-powered recreation. It was awesome. And the city council, thank you, city council, voted to continue Sundays on the boulevard every April to October. We hope you'll join us. Last year, 350 students and over 100 adult volunteers removed invasive plants from Four River Sanctuary. We were aiming for two different but connected outcomes. One, by removing the Fragmites, we encouraged the growth of native plants and created habitat, increased water quality, and attract native animals. And two, we helped the volunteers to understand complicated conservation issues by getting their hands dirty. This allowed them to understand the confusing issues of conservation and habitat protection and climate change as well as to understand their personal power. Voters of all ages, I'm sorry, volunteers of all ages carried these lifelong lessons with them. This is people-powered conservation. Together, we're making a greater Portland. In 1900, the Olmstead brothers had a plan that is still relevant today. That vision, combined with today's research, will guide us in our new strategic planning effort. As part of our efforts, we're engaging residents of Portland and neighboring communities in the process of defining shared goals and priorities for conservation, trails, and active transportation. This will be people-powered transformation. An expanded trail network that is guided by the people who use it will build bridges between neighborhoods, schools, and ecosystems and create a healthier and greater Portland. Free neighborhood opportunities for exercise in nature are improving the physical and mental health of Portland residents and visitors. Many people appreciate simply having access to places that provoke quiet contemplation. Green spaces, trails, and green school grounds create community identity. What is Portland without the Back Cove Trail, the Presumscot River Preserve, or the Eastern Prom Trail? These open spaces and amenities are the core of Portland's urban fabric. In 2014, we'll be working on these and many other initiatives with our people power. Join us as a member, a volunteer, or a supporter. Together, let's connect people, neighborhoods, schools, and ecosystems. Thank you, Kara. And let's thank all of tonight's brave presenters. Thank you. And I've just got a few last words to say here and then we can break. Thanks to Space Gallery for hosting us tonight. Thank you guys. Great job. And a few plugs here while we have a captive audience. First of all, check out our website, trails.org. There's all kinds of events listed more obviously in the spring and summer. We've got discovery tracks coming up. We've got all sorts of new ideas. We are hiring. We are hiring a stewardship and volunteer coordinator. Spread the word, help us find the right person. See the website for more info about that as well. And just one last quick. How many of you are members of Portland trails? Okay, I'm not gonna out anyone who hasn't raised their hand but I will invite you on your way out. You can see Kathleen at the table there. She has membership forms. We would like to get to 2,000. And we're kind of like NPR. You can use the trails for free and we'll never know and you're always welcome to keep using them for free but we also encourage you to give something back in that way. And so check out C. Kathleen. And then if you're already a member or even if you're not, I suppose, think about taking it to the next level. We started a leave a trail society. It's a way to leave a gift to Portland trails in your will. And we are aiming to get, two more years we'll have our 25th year as an organization and we're aiming to have 25 people tell us that they've made up a quest to us by our 25th year. And right now we're about a third of the way. I think we've got eight or nine. So please do think about that. And you can contact anyone at the office if you have questions or you can just surprise us and let us know. So thank you so much and have a great night and hit the trails. It's not too cold but it will warm up. I'm told. Okay. Thank you guys.