 Greetings...
My name is Scout Tomyris and I am Netkeeper for the Wilderness Guides Council from 2005-2008. In order to allow me to train for the position, my selection was endorsed by consensus at the Gathering in 2004. The following February, we bid farewell to Farion (after 4 incredible years) and I was welcomed in a beautiful Ceremony. I have been a member of the Wilderness Guides Council since 1998. I have served the WGC over the years as a member of the editorial council for Circles, the Transition committee, the Advisory Council and the Elders Council.
Netkeeper Report – February 2007
This was a busy year for the Advisory Council and me. Lots of email was created and read. Several conference calls were made. We had a face to face meeting in early December to hammer out the Bylaws revisions and talk about juicy WGC stuff like expanding the levels of membership and growing our role as stewards of the land. We talked about insurance and ended up with more questions than answers – thus the questionnaire in your packet. We completed the Community Guidelines. I worked much more closely with the AC this year than ever before. Munro and I speak almost weekly.
When not collaborating with the AC or GC, I plug away at staying current with correspondence, updating the website and sending out all those bulk emails that you hopefully have received. An average week found me at the computer doing work for the WGC for 6 to 10 hours. By December this was up to 12 hours a week and in the past 2 months I have been putting in several hours every day, 7 days a week. All this time spent on behalf of the WGC is the reason why I am requesting a raise of $200 a month. Our membership has increased and we can afford it.
I am still interested in exploring ways for the WGC to reach out to other organizations with similar intentions. I have done a little but mostly I don’t have time. I am hoping that with the addition of an Alternate Netkeeper that we can be more proactive about letting the world know that we exist. The most difficult aspect of the work has to do with taxes. I seem to be able to keep the check register up to date but I am confused by the forms and requirements for reporting payroll and income taxes. I am looking for someone to help me with this challenge. If that person is you – come give me a squeeze and let me know.
In October I attended the 3rd International Wilderness Guides Gathering in England. It was great to make connections with folks from around the world. Farion and I had an amazing meeting with Xenia, the German Netkeeper. I stepped forward to assist with the 2009 Intercontinental Guides Gathering that will be held in southern Arizona in April that year. Coordinating WGC Gatherings with that one is going to be one of my tasks in the coming two years.
The thing I love the most about being Netkeeper is that I have the opportunity to exchange messages with, speak to and see in person, a number of you, between Gatherings. My work as a vision quest guide is continuing, I am scheduled to lead 4 trips this year, and it has been greatly enhanced by all the collaborations. I continue to feel that we are some of the finest human beings on the Earth and I am blessed to be in the position to serve you all.
Blessed be… Scout
Netkeeper Report – January 2006
I have just completed my first full year as Netkeeper. I was very involved with planning the last Gathering, yet somehow this year it seems like more work. Not that I am complaining. I work for the greatest people (you) in one of the finest organizations I know of. Wilderness guides rock.
In 2004, when I was on the Advisory Council, we got together one weekend in July and drafted the proposed Community Guidelines that are destined to be confirmed at the upcoming Gathering. These guidelines have already been used successfully, if informally, by a small group of us. As we mature as an organization, it is really helpful for us to have guidance like this so when issues come up, we can act wisely and in accordance with our values. It should come as no surprise to you then that I endorse the acceptance of the Community Guidelines by consensus.
The highlight of the summer of 2005 for the WGC was, without a doubt, the Guides Renewal Fast, sponsored by our very own Rangers. Jim Mahoney, Tom Quinton and I held down basecamp high in Death Valley National Park in June. I’m talking late June. A time of year that I would have thought it impossibly hot in this desert. But our Rangers did their recon well and we walked less than a mile into a beautiful basin with rock-strewn hills on three sides. Sure, we hunkered down during the hottest part of the day, and it was entirely doable. Seven courageous guides stepped out into their wilderness and stayed the full four days. The mirroring councils were nothing short of astounding. Guides doing it for guides. Wow. This was my second Renewal trip and definitely not my last.
Things ramped up again in October when I met with the Gathering Council at Tamarisk Grove Campground. We wanted to have a good look at the place, connect with the park rangers and get a feel for what it might be like to have our Gathering in this new location. It should work well for us. The shade of the big trees and a nesting pair of barn owls are a blessing.
I stayed busy the rest of the year working on a revision of the website and, corresponding with members and folks with interest in joining. Hello again to all of you that I shared email with or talked to by phone over the year. I have to tell you about the big surprise of December, when out of the blue a man from Australia joined. He hopes to come to a future Gathering. Our reach keeps expanding!
Any day now, the new-and-improved WGC website will go live. The URL is the same, so you don’t have to change anything. It features more pages and a database-driven Find A Guide section. One of the biggest differences between this site and our old one is that I will do almost all the updating (instead of our over-worked and under-paid Webkeeper, Munro).
All of the documents about the Gathering are (or soon will be) available on this website for downloading. There will also be a PayPal shopping cart to allow you to register and join online. All you need is a credit card or a PayPal account. It will work in most, but not all, countries around the world. We are trying to make it easier for you to connect with us.
This is especially important for maintaining our finances. We saw another drop in membership last year. The average price paid for membership was only $45 per person. In order for us to stay fiscally viable over the next few years, we are going to be looking for new members while also encouraging former members to come back. Our dues are exceptionally low for a professional organization, $50–100 sliding scale. I encourage you to join at the highest rate you can afford. If you are also able to make a donation, that would be great and we could really use it. With your support, we can keep the price of the Gathering and membership from going up.
Serving the WGC as Netkeeper is a great honor. I so appreciate all the support and loving encouragement that I continue to receive. I literally stumbled over a symbol of my position in early December. I was in Death Valley. I found a chunk of sandstone encrusted with a web of crystals. It has become my Netkeeper stone and sits on the altar in my living room to remind me of all the guides and questers for whom I lovingly maintain the Net.
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