What can I do?

Friday, 04 May 2012 10:46

By volunteering with the Foundation you can participate in a wide range of activities including trail maintenance, ride guiding, events, fundraising, administration, marketing and board management.

Trail Maintenance Volunteers

Do you like being out on the Trail and getting your hands dirty?
The Munda Biddi Trail Foundation offers two trail maintenance opportunities:

Trail Maintenance Section Volunteer:

 A self-managed maintenance program where volunteers (groups and individuals) can adopt a section of the Trail.

• What does a Trail Maintenance Section Volunteer do?
  Trail maintenance volunteers are asked to inspect a section of the Trail and report safety hazards, missing signs, damage to facilities and illegal trail behaviour (4WD and motorbike). We also encourage you to conduct light maintenance tasks such as pruning, clearing light debris off the Trail and cleaning up campsites.
• How often do I need to attend my section?
  Trail maintenance volunteers of standard sections are asked to attend their section at least 3 times per year (once every four months).
  Volunteers that take on a section of trail that includes a campsite are asked to attend their section/ campsite 4 times per year (once every three months).
• Allocating a trail maintenance section.
  When you register as a trail maintenance volunteer, you will be asked to nominate for 3 preferred Trail sections. We will try our best to provide you with your preferences however these are allocated on first come first serve basis. Some of the sections may include campsites, but as there are currently only 7 campsites not everyone will have a campsite in their section. See the trail section maps provided to see which sections include campsites.

Trail Maintenance Crew:

A program for occasional larger trail maintenance projects that requires a crew of volunteers with DEC support.

• What does a Trail Maintenance Crew do?
  During the course of the year, the Foundation will promote weekend trail maintenance crew projects. Some of these projects may include building new trail, campsite maintenance, bridge building or cutting back trail vegetation. What ever your skills, experience and location we will try and find a project that suits your interests.

Maintenance sections and projects will be regularly advertised on the Foundation website www.mundabiddi.org.au under volunteers. You can register online and nominate yourself for any volunteer roles as they arise.

"Volunteering to maintain a section of the Munda Biddi gives me added purpose to return to the forest on the weekends, get a good workout and also assist in the upkeep of this great public recreation facility". - Stewart Parkinson (MBTF Trail Maintenance Section Volunteer and Ride Guide)

Ride Guides and Events Assistant

Becoming a Ride Guide or Events Assistant is a great way to enjoy the Trail, meet fellow cyclists and encourage new riders is to be part of the Trail and the Foundation.

Ride Guides
Are you a competent off-road cyclist? Have you ever considered sharing your mountain biking and adventure touring skills knowledge with others?  Then register your interest to become a Munda Biddi Ride Guide. All Ride Guides are required to attend Ride Guide training before leading a ride or have approved NORLS accreditation.

Events Assistant
Are you are born organiser and like talking to people? Then consider becoming an events volunteer. Some of the community events that the Foundation attends are the - Royal Show, Bike to Work Breakfast, Annual Australasian Cycle Tourism Conference and community fairs and festivals.

“What I most enjoy about being a ride guide is helping first time trail users, and particularly family groups to experience the Trail and forest. Helping people realise that it is not hard to get on the bike and enjoy the ride is rewarding”. - Ron Colman [MBTF Chairperson and Ride Guide]

Administration and Marketing

The Foundation’s office is located in the Mountain Designs Building, 862 Hay Street, Perth, and open 4 days a week (Monday to Thursday). You can be part of this exciting office and assist with a range of administration and marketing tasks including:

• EDUCATIONAL SPEAKER – talking and presenting to groups and club meetings.
• RESEARCH AND SURVEYS – collecting trail data.
• TRIP PLANNING ADVICE - to potential trail users (phone calls and emails).
• GENERAL ADMINISTRATION – filing, processing membership and merchandise orders.
• MAIL OUTS AND MAP PACKING – sending out newsletters, brochures and map packing.
• NEWSLETTER - Let your writing, design or editing talents shine. Help write an article or send us your anecdotes to add to our seasonal newsletter or website.

Governance and Board Membership

Being community based means the Foundation relies primarily on volunteers to govern the organisation.

The function of the Board is to be accountable for the proper conduct of the Foundations’ business operations including: strategic planning; policy management; financial management; personnel management and public relations.

The management of the Foundation is guided by a constitution and a 5-Year Strategic Business Plan. The Board is made up of a wide variety of professional and community appointed people that want to help build a sustainable future for the Trail and the Foundation. Board members offer their expertise and skills in the areas of tourism, events, marketing and business governance - accounting, IT and risk management. The Board meets every second month; with the Executive Board meeting monthly. The annual general meeting is generally held in October each year and Board nominations are accepted prior to the meeting.

The Munda Biddi Trail Foundation Board is made up of 12 board members including:

• 4 Executive (Chair, Vice Chair, Treasurer and Secretary)
• 6 x Community representatives
• 1 x Department of Environment and Conservation representative
• 1 x Tourism Western Australia representative