Doug, I can sympathize with you. I don't believe there is intent to ignore the offers to help, but often it is difficult to know how to best use these resources. For instance, I know you offered to help me with 0579. But I haven't had much chance to followup with you for a number of reasons.
Traditionally the organization is run by a close-knit group of folks. That worked fine, but besides the work sessions, there wasn't much chance to involve the membership. Even the standing committees were almost always consistented primarily of board members. It was mainly a convience thing, and for the most part not a trust problem.
I was on the board for a bit in the early 90's, so I have some insight into how you might assert yourself. First off, don't sit back and expect to be invited. You pretty much need to identify a problem to solve, then talk to someone about your interest, and figure out a way to get it done. For instance, when I started working on 0579, I basically told the projects committee, "I'm interested in this thing and with your approval I'd like to plan some sort of restoration". While the feedback I got wasn't initially enthusiastic, I got a couple of others interested and we're about a 1/3 of the way to getting it done. I tell them what I need and they give it to me. If I would have just told somebody "I want to help", nothing would have gotten done. Now obviously it helped that I had a track record, but if you start out on something managable and show success that will help.
I don't have any current visability on the internal workings of the organization, but I do expect that the focus is getting the railroad running smoothly. At some point, things should return to normal, so maybe you can give them a plan they don't need to think too hard to let you run with the ball.