Monday, August 3, 2026 · CraftRoots Brewing, Milford, Massachusetts
Blackstone Valley NEMBA members filled CraftRoots Brewing in Milford, Massachusetts, on Monday, August 3, 2026, for the chapter’s summer meeting, where leaders reported a new $25,000 grant for the Millbury trail network, steady progress across the chapter’s trail systems, and a funding gap on the long-planned Holliston Bike Park.
President Pat Drumm opened by naming the gap the chapter is working to close: roughly 4,700 people follow Blackstone Valley NEMBA on Facebook, but active membership sits in the low hundreds, and the pool of regular volunteers is smaller still. He asked members to find a way to pitch in, from clearing downed limbs on their local trails to leading a project with chapter support. The group approved the prior meeting’s minutes.
Treasurer’s report
Treasurer Josh Handverger reported a balance of about $32,000, including $10,000 from two grants tied to Millbury and Holliston work. Eight months into the year, the chapter has spent only a small share of its budget, which Josh said is by design: the goal is to put money to work where people ride, connecting members who bring a project to land managers, materials, and design help. He also noted chapter elections are coming in November.
State of the trails
Pat passed the microphone to project leads around the room.
Kevin Keenan reported the jump trails at Vietnam finished, with mellower lines and a new teeter behind them, and trailside picnic tables built by his 14-year-old daughter. Jason, of the Holliston Town Forest Committee, described a wayfinding pilot on the Adams parcel: numbered intersections grouped into six lettered zones, with lower numbers pointing toward a way out so a lost or injured rider can pinpoint a location. He also said a regional trail assessment is coming, and that the likely result is retiring some redundant trails rather than adding more.
Kyle Grendell reported on Millbury, where a $25,000 grant announced that day put the Mills to Miles campaign at $44,500 of its $50,000 goal. He also cited a new town conservation commissioner supportive of trail work and thanked the volunteers who moved material through the build season.
Briana Johnson described a new bridge at a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers site in Oxford. Built in partnership with MIT, it uses a 3D-printed truss made of recycled polymer that arrived on two pallets, light enough to carry a section by hand, and bolts into its abutments with stainless hardware. It is engineered to hold the weight of four horses and rated to last more than 50 years, a response to flooding that shortens the life of wooden bridges at the site. Crews also cleared a beaver dam to dry out the approach.
Ron Woodall, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers ranger on site at West Hill Dam, reported steady maintenance and chainsaw work and said fall trail days are being planned. Mike Carvalho gave the Holliston Bike Park update, a project five years in the making. After Town Meeting approved $650,000 in the spring, the community has raised $691,107. Construction bids opened in July came in above estimate, leaving the project roughly $20,000 to $30,000 short, and the chapter is working with the low bidder and the town to close the gap without reducing the park’s scope. Barry Kosherick reported two of three student-led trails complete at the Natick project and asked for a local project manager to finish the third before the high-school lead graduates.
Communications and membership
Dan Brown reviewed the chapter’s new policy of disclosing when it uses AI to help produce materials, then reported membership figures: 489 active members, with renewals down 3% year over year during the spring drive. The chapter’s challenge is conversion rather than reach, he said; the Facebook group is active and emails get opened, but fewer people take the next step to join. He pointed to two responses underway: Trailforks-based trail-network guides, starting with West Hill Dam and Vietnam, and the Dam Nice Ride, a beginner series led by Paul Gore that has drawn 109 signups, averages 15 to 20 riders a week, and retains about 70% of participants. When a member asked leadership to state the chapter’s objectives, Pat and Dan described the current priority as sustaining the volunteer base and trail-maintenance capacity the chapter relies on.
New business member
Rob Horne introduced Wicked Ride MTB, his new trail-building business, and described a planned reroute at a washed-out section of Pisgah with Ethan Bickford, where his excavator would cut the tread and volunteers would shape the trail.
Events ahead
Bill Dakai recapped the Zig-Zag weekend at Jared Wheelock’s Oxford trails, which contributed close to $400 to the chapter, and confirmed a Toys for Tots ride again this year with the Marines. Kim Powell, coordinating the Best Dam Ride at West Hill Dam for a fourth year, called for volunteers across parking, registration, raffles, setup, and trail crew. The event returns Sunday, October 18, with a youth program led by Eric Wilhelm and NEYC coaches. Justin Schroth announced the first mountain bike PMC Kids Ride, at West Hill Dam on Saturday, August 29; it is the first mountain bike version of a Pan-Mass Challenge Kids Ride, a program that has raised more than $12 million for cancer research, and he asked for 20 to 25 volunteers.
Open floor and votes
Members approved a $500 donation toward a community pump track in Harvard after a request from Roger Cameron. Harvard belongs to the Wachusett NEMBA chapter but sits among three chapters and draws riders from Blackstone Valley, Wachusett, and Merrimack Valley, Cameron said. The pump track, several years in the works, has its approval and the first of three trails built, with fill ordered for about $1,400 to $1,500. Wachusett NEMBA pledged $1,500 last month and offered another $500 on the condition that Blackstone Valley and Merrimack Valley each match. Pat noted the chapter had used only 14% of its budget eight months into the year before the motion carried.
Pat closed with the calendar, including the Best Dam Ride on October 18 and the next chapter meeting on Monday, November 16, and a list of open volunteer roles: ride-area representatives, a second leader for the Dam Nice Ride, corridor clearing at the Natick project, event sponsors for the Best Dam Ride, and photographers and storytellers. Ethan Bickford gave an update on his Pisgah reroute and other work on the Berlin side, and a member announced a geezer ride the next morning at West Hill Dam. The meeting adjourned around 8:45 PM.
To get involved this season, reach out on Slack or at BlackstoneValley@NEMBA.org, and a leader will help you find a place to plug in.
