April is almost here and with it our first general membership meeting of 2023. We have an exciting group of programs and speakers lined up for the year.

I hope you are looking forward to resuming in-person meetings in the Sandia Ranger District (SRD) conference room—our first since October 2019—as much as I. Our first guest speakers, District Ranger Crystal Powell and Acting Deputy District Ranger Julie Padilla will bring us up to date on happenings in SRD during the past year and SRD's plan of work and priorities for the coming year. You won’t want to miss what Crystal and Julie have to tell us.

Crystal Powell, the District Ranger at Sandia since 2016, has 23 years of service with the USDA Forest Service. Until the past few years as the District Ranger, her career has focused on her passion of recreation and public information management. She has worked in 4 of the 9 Forest Service Regions, on 6 National Forests, in 5 states from the east to the west at the District and Forest Supervisor’ Office levels as well as on a National Recreation Area. Until 2015, Crystal also served in a logistical role to a Type 1 National Incident Management Team, which is an all-hazard team essential in management of, and response to local/regional/national emergencies, natural disasters and public events. Originally from the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Area — and a Steelers and Penguins fan!!! — she graduated with a degree in Parks and Recreation Management from Slippery Rock University – yes it is a real school! Her children are four-legged and fuzzy rescues. Warning – she can talk dogs for hours!

Julie Padilla is a life-time resident of Albuquerque and began her career with the Forest Service in the Southwestern Regional Office in 2017 working in the Office of Communications and Engagement. She moved to the Cibola Supervisors office to support Public Affairs and Recreation Management prior to coming to the Sandia Ranger District as the Recreation Manager. Julie earned a degree in Conservation Biology from the University of New Mexico and is passionate about connecting people to the land, developing partnerships and encouraging a new generation of land stewards. Outside of work Julie enjoys spending time with her kids, traveling and spending time in nature.

I've been asked more than once during our two years of Zoom meetings whether it would be possible to continue to use Zoom for those who find it difficult or impossible to attend in-person meetings. I’ve been told by those who have tried that such hybrid meetings are very difficult to accomplish. Wifi unavailability will make ours particularly so. Nevertheless, I will try doing so using my iPhone with its one whole bar of service as the transmitting source. Although a preliminary test with a half dozen viewers was encouraging, I am aware that many if not most experiments fail. Communications essentially will be oneway (live streaming), and the maximum number of viewers could end up being quite small because of bandwidth limitations. Therefore, viewers’ video will be turned off and microphones will be muted. Chat will be used for questions/comments from viewers. Zoom particulars are:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/9075275815?pwd=M1Axcm9DbE9GWVZMOWVkRzlXSTNDQT09

Meeting ID: 907 527 5815

Dial in: 346-248-7799 (Not Toll Free)

I will provide more specifics before the meeting.

Crystal and Julie are working hard to get the conference room usable by April 4. (There currently is no heat, and materials stored in the room must be relocated.) Should they be unsuccessful, we will revert to yet another Zoom meeting for everyone using the above particulars.

I look forward to seeing you in person on April 4.