By Mark Spencer
Thanks to the Recreational Aviation Foundation’s efforts in working with Congress and the US Forest Service in Washington, $750,000 was directed by congress to be invested in backcountry airstrips around the country. Each region receives its portion of this money based on total number of feet of existing airstrips. Region 4, that’s AZ and NM, received about $200,000 of these funds. This year’s funding has allowed the RAF and APA to work with both the Tonto National Forest and the Apache-Sitgrieves National Forest to get approval and installation of a vault toilet at the Grapevine and Double Circle Ranch airstrips. APA’s Mike Andresen worked with the FS to find the perfect spot for the vault toilet at Grapevine, currently now in place, and Mark Spencer is working with the Apache-Sitgrieves forest on the location of the Double Circle vault toilet. Check out this great new amenity at Grapevine! Please help us now to keep this in clean condition with only human waste - no bottles, trash, etc. in the vault. The APA will be funding the occasional pumping of the Grapevine vault, so as always, please make a tax deductible contribution to the APA’s backcountry fund.
