The Backcountry Trail Patrol will host a “Meet, Greet and Ride” event at Springvale County Park to familiarize the community with both the trail patrol, and off-pavement biking opportunities at Springvale. Volunteer patrol members will be on hand to explain about the Backcountry Trail Patrol, the National Mountain Bike Patrol (NMBP) and to lead mountain bike rides through the park. The event will be on Sunday, Sept. 7, 2008, from 2 to 5:30 p.m. The patrol extends an invitation to anyone interested in the becoming involved with this new volunteer service in Isanti County. Nationally-certified patrollers will provide information on the membership and training requirements for the Backcountry Trail Patrol. The all-volunteer patrol will be providing safety patrol at Isanti County’s Springvale and Wayside Prairie Parks and Dalbo Memorial Forest, and will also be helping with trail maintenance and construction in the county park system. Many of the patrol’s members have successfully completed trail building and maintenance training under the auspices of IMBA (International Mountain Bicycling Association). The Backcountry Patrol is also inviting local law enforcement, fire-rescue and EMS personnel to stop by and meet the patrollers, so they can explain how the patrol can be of assistance to those agencies, as well as the county parks department. In June, members of the Backcountry Trail Patrol and other Minnesota NMBP units assisted the multi-day, successful search for an autistic man near Grantsburg, Wis. In August, patrol members helped out at both the Chisago Lakes Triathlon in Chisago City and the Rum River Bicycle Classic in Cambridge. For further information, go to the patrol’s Web site or e-mail backcountry@trailpatrol.org.