Gene Bowling, 70 years young, was awarded Public Lands Volunteer of the Year from the local Bureau of Land Management office at their recent National Public Lands Days on September 13th at Hyatt Lake.
Gene was given this award for his many decades of volunteer service to the BLM including helping them maintain and open new trails. He consistently volunteers his time to these projects and his expertise as a metal worker whenever the BLM has a need. The BLM, due to budget and manpower cuts, relies heavily on volunteers to maintain trail systems and Gene is quick to volunteer whether the trail is for snowmobilers, skiers, bicyclist or hikers.
Gene has been a member of the Rogue Snowmobilers since the mid 1970's and a board member for most of those years. He is a member of the Oregon State Snowmobile Association and is their Maintenance Inspector for the association and is very involved with the state groomers training program. He does all this with countless hours of volunteer time. In December of 2007, Gene was awarded the Snowmobiler of the Year award by the Rogue Snowmobilers for his many accomplishments.
Gene is also involved in many other volunteer projects involving use and protection of our forest lands and works tirelessly both winter and summer with the BLM, Forest Service and other outdoor clubs. He was instrumental in establishing the Multi-Use Trails Coalition which coordinates various outdoor clubs, motorized and non-motorized, with government agencies to keep trails open and useable for all recreationists. He was instrumental in getting the Claude Lewis Trailhead shelter built and is currently working on the completion of the Annie Creek shelter near Crater Lake. He is currently working on a project with local Boy Scouts assisting them to design and build water trough ladders so small animals looking for water in troughs can get to the water and back out without drowning.
Gene has been a resident of Medford for over 55 years and has been married to his wife, Bonnie, for 47 years. He has 2 children and 9 grandchildren. Gene is semi-retired and owns his own sheet metal shop and farms 10 acres. His favorite recreation is riding his snowmobile or his quad with his family and friends sharing his knowledge and history of the area and trail systems.
Morton & Hilda Duff
The Duff's have been members of the Rogue Snowmobilers for about 12 years. They live in Grants Pass and have very busy schedules so they find it very difficult to make it to Saturday events or club meetings. Like most of us, age has changed their riding style to a less aggressive form of riding but they still like to get out into the powder.
This picture was taken by friends that Morton and Hilda took snowmobiling about 2 ½ years ago. These friends had so much fun that they now own their own machines.
The Nering's
Meet the Nering Family. Kevin and Marcia have been snowmobiling for five year and have been members of the club for three. They own Northwest Homes and Landscape, LLC which constructs family homes and also handles home remodels.
Daniel, who is now 2 ½, began snowmobiling last year and totally loves it. He practices every other day but doesn't quite understand why he can't go yet. But he does understand how to do the snow dance! Daniel was our first chest protector winner and looks forward to using it as he is pretty sure he is going to be riding mom's 800 by himself. Good luck mom and dad explaining how that won't work!!
The Nering's like to snowmobile at Thousand Springs when they have time to spend the night in the mountains or up to Lake of the Woods for those quick trips. They love to go to California to Deer Park when there is enough snow. They enjoy riding with fellow Rogue Snowmobile members, Jon, Angel and Tyler McCauley.
Kim Greenwaldt
Kim is currently the secretary and webmaster of the Rogue Snowmobilers. She has lived in the Rogue Valley for ten years now and has worked in accounting at Boise Cascade during that time.
In addition, Kim recently received her BS in Business Administration from Southern Oregon University and will return in September to get her Postbaccalaureate Certificate in Accounting and plans to take the CPA exam in 2008.
In her spare time, Kim enjoys playing with her pets, reading, gardening and horseback riding. Her all time favorite vacation was a week roughing it in the Jarbidge Wilderness in northeastern Nevada participating in a horse drive. As a fairly new snowmobiler, she enjoys distance riding best.
Dennis & Lori Jordan
Dennis is currently the president of the Rogue Snowmobilers. He is also the Safety Chair for OSSA. He works full time as a Fire Captain for Fire District 3 and also works part-time at Boise Cascade in the safety department.
Lori is a full time homemaker. In addition, she babysits for several of her grandchildren daily. Many will remember that Lori has been the past secretary for the Rogue Snowmobilers for years and has chosen to take a break from it. Thank goodness, she will continue to organize our Christmas Banquet.
Dennis and Lori have two daughters and a son and also have six grandchildren. They enjoy spending time with their family, motorhoming and snowmobiling. When there is no snow, they like to go riding their street motorcycle with their snowmobile buddies. Dennis also enjoys teaching the kid's safety classes and the CPR classes every year.
