East Ridge Foundation

The Rotary Club of Butte East Ridge Foundation ERF would like to introduce David Armstrong, ERF Treasurer. After working 3 dozen years in the mining industry, he came to Butte in 2007 to teach at Montana Tech. Since retiring as Head of the Mining Engineering Department, he stayed active in Butte with the Rotary Club of Butte , with the ERF, the Butte Archives, and the World Museum of Mining. As a member of Rotary, he has been active in developing gardens at the World Museum of Mining and building the new Mining Heritage Trail at Rotary's Maud S Canyon Trail system. He and his wife, Pat, have three children and three granddaughters.
Please follow the East Ridge Foundation page to connect with us and our amazing volunteers.

The Rotary Club of Butte East Ridge Foundation has been introducing our ERF Board of Directors; ERF Vice-President Ed Peretti, moved to Butte in 1986 after graduating from MSU and WSU in Veterinary Science. The Great Falls native has been involved with Rotary Club of Butte for 33 years thanks to an invitation from the first woman member Francine York! Ed has contributed to many Rotary projects and was highly interested in the development of the Maud S Canyon trails which had been idle. After a mountain bike in the canyon with son Nick, Ed asked him to consider an Eagle Scout project for clean up and signage. Nick agreed and presented the idea to RCB and the entire club got fired up to do something bigger. The ERF established a newly elected and enthusastic board to oversee the development of Maud S Trails in 2004. Over the past 22 years the contributions of many people has resulted in Maud S become an important part of our community.
The recent establishment of an endowment will hopefully provide the resources to maintain this beautiful place in pertuity.

The Rotary Club of Butte East Ridge Foundation would like to introduce Bob Miller, a Rotarian for 34 years, Bob has served as the club president twice and has been and is current a director with the ERF Board of Directors. Working with Maud S Trails among his most rewarding with the Rotary Club of Butte.
The Maud S property was adopted by ERF charter in 1984 and by 2000 Bob was noticing the dog eared signs, no parking lot and no trail system. The ERF board got very active by 2004 with funding opportunities and partnerships. The next 22 years has seen Bob Miller working with ERF to accomplish:
*design of parking lot and trail
*clean up junk and debris
*construct parking lot
*construct trails in sections to finally complete the loop
*find monies for maintenance and managing noxious weeds
*construt the new mining heritage trail
Bob Miller's 22+ years ERF experience has left him feeling his efforts have been rewarded in the form of a very tangible and important contribution to the Butte community.

The Rotary Club of Butte East Ridge Foundation ERF would like to introduce Leo Heath, ERF Board president. Leo has been a user of Maud S Canyon trails for many years and been a member of the Rotary Club of Butte and the East Ridge Foundation since 2019. Walking in the outdoor mountains of Montana has always been his favorite pastime and the nearby convenience of the Maud S Trails to his Butte home has made Maud S a natural.
Leo is a native of Butte (Butte Boys Central HS 1967) and (Montana Tech BSPE 1971) and finished his 32 year Petroleum Engineering career with Entech ( Montana Power Co) in 2002. He then joined the faculty of Montana Tech Petroleum Engineering as an Associate Professor and Department Head, and retired in 2015. Leo is married to Dottie, his wife of 54 years, and is the proud father of two daughters and grandfather of two grandchildren.
Say hello to Leo when you see him walking the Maud S Canyon trails!

Maud S Trails

Rotary Club of Butte Maud S Trails East Ridge Foundation (ERF) is proud of the mining history of the area. The Maud S mine was worked by John Leslie in the early 1900's. Along the Mining Heritage Trail visitors can see evidence of old mining shafts and workings.
The Maud S Trail system includes 5 miles of various trails for all abilities in a non-motorized year round setting beginning at the trail head parking lot off Saddle Rock road. A US forest service connector trail at the top of the foothills leads to the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail.

The Rotary Club of Butte Maud S East Ridge Foundation (ERF) has three main objectives:
1. Establish, develop, and maintain public recreation facilities.
2. Maintain access to public lands 3. Educate, inform, and instruct the public with respect to history, culture and heritage of the area of the Maud S Trails.
The ERF board: Leo Heath, president; Ed Peretti, vice president; David Armstrong, treasurer. The directors are Bob Bentley, Bill Spath, Bob Miller, and Dave Braaten. ERF is a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit organization. Next week we will learn about the board members.

Rotary Club of Butte is putting focus on the Maud S Trails East Ridge Foundation (ERF). This nonprofit organization provides for the operations and maintenance of the Maud S Trails and associated lands on the east ridge foothills outside of Butte. ERF was organized by the Rotary Club of Butte in 1984 after the club was gifted several old mining claim land parcels. Totalling 201 acres, the Maud S Canyon lands provide access to adjacent national forest. We will be providing profiles and information about the ERF weekly. Like us and follow along.