When
I look back at the history of the Pumpkinvine Nature Trail, one feature that
permeates that history is the positive partnership between the Friends of the
Pumpkinvine and the four local public agencies (LPAs) that built and manage the
trail now – Goshen Park and Recreation, Elkhart County Parks, Middlebury Parks
and the Town of Shipshewana. They have been indispensable to the Pumpkinvine’s
creation and success because they had the skills the Friends of the Pumpkinvine
volunteers lacked.
The volunteers, who have made up the
Friends of the Pumpkinvine board of directors since the early ‘90s had skills
in writing, photography, public relations and fundraising, but none of us had a
clue about how to build or run a park. In other words, we needed expertise
beyond our set of skills.
Because of our skill deficit, we knew that
we would need the help of the local public agencies where the abandoned Pumpkinvine
corridor was located to make it into a linear park. At the beginning, we were
primarily in contact with Goshen’s park director, Art Bleau and Elkhart County
Parks director, Dan Seltenright, and we were thrilled to discover that both
were open to the idea of turning the Pumpkinvine corridor into a linear park
because that idea was already in their master plans.
But lines on maps and words on paper are
hollow without follow through. The rails-to-trails idea for the Pumpkinvine corridor
moved forward because Bleu and Seltenright saw its potential for success by
working with the Friends of the Pumpkinvine. That was the beginning of a
partnership between the Friends of the Pumpkinvine and the LPA leadership that
has lasted over 25 years. When Rich Faye and Sheri Howland succeeded Bleau and
Larry Neff and Diane Madison succeeded Seltenright, the collaboration
continued. Roger Krider, Middlebury town manager, joined as a partner, as did
his successors Marcel Coulomb, Lowell Miller and Mark Salee. In Shipshewana,
former Friends of the Pumpkinvine board member, Norm Kauffmann, orchestrated
their buy in to the rails-to-trails concept, as did his successors Dave
Swartley, Bill Boyer, Mike Puro, Sheryl Kelly and Mike Sutter.
All these changes in leadership for the
managing agencies were staggered, assuring continuity in the management of the
Pumpkinvine Nature Trail. Yet in the past eight months, we had seen the
departure of Madison, Salee and Howland, and, I learned as I was writing this
column in mid-February, that Mike Sutter has announced that he is retiring in
June 2017. So, within the space of one year we will have new leadership in all
four LPAs that manage the Pumpkinvine Nature Trail.
Will so much change in the leadership of
these LPAs be positive or negative for the Pumpkinvine? If the past in any
indicator of the future, I’m optimistic the new leaders (see page 4) will
continue the tradition of being excellent stewards of the Pumpkinvine. And I’m
grateful for the care and vision the departing leaders – Madison, Salee,
Howland and Sutter -- have shown the trail. They have been outstanding trail managers,
advocates and partners. -- John Yoder
After years of planning and
fundraising, the Friends of the Middlebury Parks have signed a contract with
Niblock Excavating and Asphalt to build the Ridge Run Trail system. The trail
will connect That Pretty Place Bed and Breakfast, the Greencroft Middlebury
Retirement Community, the Essenhaus campus and the Middlebury Schools campus
with the Pumpkinvine Nature Trail. 
