A unit of Lasting Forests
Sustained forests; sustained profits
evolving since March 30, 1999

Project Pivotal-Rig
[ Website Home | The Project's Home | Table of Contents | The Finder | Glossary ]

Getting Started in

The Project

One part of the answer ...

 

Please read and ponder The Pivotal Strategy. Getting Started is offered reluctantly. It's probably like comments by Hercules discussing a type of shovel when given the task of cleaning the Aegean stables.

Here's what I'd do, several things at once, with a little help. The following can probably be done by July 1, 2003.

  1. Rural Nelson leadership needs to meet and to decide whether the concept is worth exploring further and that it should "get started." Assuming yes ...
  2. There need to be some open public meetings (at least three and not only in the summer when some people are on vacation, etc.) to discuss the potentials of the Project. These should not be decision-oriented meetings, only for information and public comments. They should be presented by Giles and colleagues.
  3. We all have to see what is possible and believe we're on the way. The Pivotal Strategy is the way to get there. Only a few have to believe it. Everyone has to know what "those other guys" are doing. There is no schedule; delay and thoughtful preparation are justified.
  4. We need lengthly newspaper presentations before the meetings.
  5. There may be small business advice and loan assistance, at least advice, from:
    Owen C. Young
    P. O. Box 1313
    Charlottesville, VA 22902
    Phone: 434.297.3756
    Fax: 434.297.3769 Toll Free: 1.866.491.8974
    Email: owencyoung@nexet.net or simply click here:Mr. Young
  6. There needs to be a temporary project leader for coordinating and channeling information and meetings, and proposals. We need (1) a temporary office space from the county; (2) an initial grant from the County of $50,000 to be repaid within 6 years; and (3) release from taxes (since we pay them from our profits), (4) a letter of support to go with Gates and Carter foundation letters (and others)
  7. There may be local investors and businesses who see the potentials of Pivotal-Rig and will want to create major units, one or more of the Groups.
  8. There may be people who know individuals, local organizations, companies, or foundations that will sponsor the concept. These need to be communicated to a project leader.
  9. Throughout, I've assumed that people would be hired using the funds obtained as venture capital or loans. There will be people, like me, retired or otherwise supported, who can take on major tasks for a select group. Who is hired will depend on the rate of acquiring funds, and the limitations on each budget.
  10. We need to see an attorney to resolve 501(c)(3) topics, joint Rural Nelson and Pivotal involvement, and proper corporate status for which and from which we can legally and safely work. I believe this is or can be formulated as a conservation and education project within Rural Nelson and further incorporation may not be needed.
  11. We need to develop insights for leadership for the next 10 years (a first-principle of the systems approach, feedforward, working and investing some now to get ready for the predicted future).
  12. We need a gross idea of the number of people unemployed or who might consider an alternative line of work within the area. Experimental and volunteer work will be needed at the beginning.
  13. If the project is approved, we need to have some bandannas made for sale at near-cost. Conspicuous is one of the bywords.
  14. We need someone who bakes to put some special yeast (I'll bring it) in a bowl and give out these sourdough "starts" to everyone who wants it. The symbolism can be strong. We'll market this as soon as possible (locally, then Cracker Barrel stores, etc.)
  15. We need to get a list of lands now under easements and begin planning a system of oversight and management for them.
  16. We need 2 to 3 people to bake 50 " Nelson Nuggets " (once called "lumps" for taste-testing, cost analysis, and market analyses) a cookie for workers, school children, and hikers. It will take a little experimenting or maybe there is a better recipe for a hard cookie that can be carried afield. We can think about boxing the Nuggets.
  17. We need to talk to local restaurant owners about commissions on meals and other product-sales that we generate.
  18. We need to discuss the Ranging concept with the local tourism director(s)
  19. I'll start a draft of a proposal to the Gates Foundation if you and people to whom you report agree.
  20. I'll start a draft of a proposal to the Carter Foundation.
  21. We need to find the largest, prettiest pond on the area or to which we can have management access for the next contracted 150 years. A map with descriptions of each pond/wet area can be a project (maybe the soil people in the county already have such a map or notes)
  22. We need to visit and see if 1-2 local funeral home owners/managers may be interested in some aspect of The Memorials Group.
  23. We need to find a person with a big-bed truck who is interested in foxes and coyotes and wants a night-shift job (see Coyote of Nature Folks)..
  24. We need to get youths and others hats or a bandana or Tee-shirts. The youth will be the future for the project. Tasks for youths or others:
  25. Write to UVa and Va Tech get names and addresses of all students from the county. Write a general letter to students and ask for help ( by working on one of more term-papers or senior or graduate projects that will payoff for them as well as their home counties - a list is available and open for suggestions). Much of the work needed for the System Central has been done or can be assembled and completed by a team of business management graduate students.
  26. We need someone ( maybe a church group) with a sewing machine to hem 10-20 triangular flags. We, theproject and the conglomerate, have to be evidently present and at work.
  27. We need someone who can start The Old Codgers.
  28. We need to contract with the Conservation Management Institute for 3 maps of the area and then print and sell them.
  29. We need to talk to a fire chief about starting to think about and to plan for The Fire Force and its potentials.
  30. We need to start the baseline for fires and fire prevention (numbers of calls, fires, estimated losses, local annual control budget).
  31. We need a meeting to get small business advice. It may be that we have to develop 50 business plans but because of System Central, none will make sense to banks or reviewers.
  32. There's a great idea in The Products Group for a hiking staff. Maybe someone who does furniture or has a lathe might advise or help get this product at least a prototype) into markets.
  33. We need someone who has a computer and some Internet skills and who is interested in Nature. He or she might head-up Nature Folks.
  34. We need to talk and plan with someone who has or now raises rabbits. Some person might fund construction and placement of 10 hutches with interested students (Scouts, 4-H or FFA, etc.).
  35. We need someone who has raised geese or someone who is very interested in doing so.
  36. We need to locate local youth and adult camps and get their addresses, phones, and dates of operation. Also an answer from each to: interested in cooperative, paid use later after the "normal season"?

  37. We can offer distance-learning courses (but the site from which it is sent is no longer relevant). One course on advanced wildlife resource management systems was offered out of the Northern Virginia Graduate Center 2 years ago. Such courses can work. We can have visitors who can see the Pivotal-Rig Project principles in action ... in 2-3 days, but not year around. Distance-learning courses may be useful to fill this extended need. We may need specialized intensive youth and adult education with a strong natural resource base for realistic examples of the principles and for motivation. We need to teach about the Pivotal System and its principles.

    Recent and ongoing research strongly indicates that using the environment as a subject "integrator" across the curriculum can both improve student performance and contribute to the development of values such as community responsibility and persistence. In addition, environment-based education can lead to more effective methods of implementing standards-based education, can be a powerful school "turn-around" tool for severely under-performing schools, and can be a vehicle for improving teacher preparation and performance.

  38. We need to consider the potentials of and then how to implement youth programs with special math and science emphases within the Pivotal-Rig Project to meet standards-of-learning.
  39. Activities may already be underway, but parenting classes, for men and women seem especially needed given the new urban conditions, the divorce rate, and the small family sizes ...few seem to learn how "to do it well" any longer. Mentors are few. Some of this can be taught outdoors and in Pivotal facilities.
  40. Has anyone any experience with carving names, etc. in local rock?
  41. Is there an expert wood whittler who might be interested in forming a group (see The Sculptors).
  42. We need to know if anyone knows where there are fine clay deposits on the area that have been or might be processed and used in sculpting.
  43. We need to know if anyone in the region works with heat pumps. Putting pipes into deep wells or compost heaps can harvest the Earth heat and provide summer cooling. (See The Energy Group; consider heating greenhouses for The Gardens Group.)
  44. Who now has experience or is interested in dairy goat work?
  45. Get a list of everyone interested in pond fishing. In stream fishing (a Trout Unlimited project(s) ?)
  46. A guides training program might assist in meeting local as well as other needs of the Pivotal-Rig, Inc. if it catches on. (One such program exists in the Virginia coalfield). There will be many guides needed and they need to be especially well trained for their specific tasks.
  47. I think we can have a writers' camp in an existing facility and it can concentrate on environmental and outdoor writing and photography, especially writing for the Internet.
  48. We need to talk to local bus operators, interests in serving local tours, and contacts with other bus and tour groups.
  49. We need to talk to the primary realtors to see if they might join in work on The Realtors
  50. Get a bookcase. I'll donate about 9 feet of books and pamphlets and reprints on natural resources, maybe for a Pivotal section within an existing local library.
  51. Rent from the County for $1 all of the vacant lands and structures that they own or have under any kind of legal arrangements. Thus we manage them all as a single Pivotal Tract (possibly with sign, mowing, planting trees, garden, rabbit hutch sites, vineyard elements, hiking paths).
  52. We need leads to available high priority funding sources. I'll help write proposals.
  53. A local person of influence may be able to communicate to Governor Warner and/or staff that this is a worthy, high-technology, intensive-computer-use project with the environment that he can assist and feature in his program.
  54. We need to pick a few enterprises (3-10) for the start-up design but the above suggests that local conditions and individuals will largely decide this by their individual actions.

The above are questions and small projects that might help generate interest and get things moving. With evident interest (work and letters), and a selection of a small number of the enterprises, we can seek Foundation and other "venture capital" as needed.

I'll welcome comments, revisions, and advice. I'll progressively change this page as additions and changes become available.

Go to the top

Other Resources:
[ Website Home | Lasting Forests (Introductions) | Units of Lasting Forests | Ranging | Trevey | Forests | Wildlife Law Enforcement Systems | Antler Points | Species-Specific Management | Wilderness | Appendices | Ideas for Development | Disclaimer]
Quick Access to the Contents of LastingForests.com

This Web site is maintained by R. H. Giles, Jr.
Last revision June 29, 2002.