President’s Message

Hello OCTA members, family and friends:

I am proud to be a Lifetime member and the President of the Oregon-California Trails Association (OCTA). It is an organization whose members have accomplished a lot to preserve the history of the national historic trails and the stories of those who lived near them or traveled on them. Today, it is our opportunity and challenge to build on this wonderful legacy of more than forty years.

As we move forward in the development of our Strategic Plan for 2025-2030, we will be working to address the following:

· Continued threats to national historic trails from energy development and transmission or distribution, urban expansion, wildfire suppression and rehabilitation and others,

· Ongoing and new efforts to map, mark and preserve the trails

· Enhanced membership growth and volunteer engagement and retention

· Updated and expanded educational curriculum and expanded use of social, print and other media to market OCTA’s important mission

· Expanded efforts at the chapter level and nationally to support the Four Trails, Period of Significance (Oregon Trail) and other key legislative efforts

· Strengthened organizational capacity (human and financial)

· Enhanced digitization, management and storage of OCTA’s valuable and comprehensive collection of historic materials

Our Strategic Planning effort has been underway for some months and is scheduled for completion in the spring of 2025. It will be a road map for us in the OCTA chapters and nationally to make strides over the next five years to “save the trails” – an important part of America’s heritage.

I look forward to meeting and getting to know many of you in the months ahead. I am confident, as we work together, that we will leave our own legacy of trail preservation and protection.

Sincerely,

Helen Hankins,

OCTA President