Good Day But A Bad Discovery

Good Evening Fellow NCTr's:

Today's trailwork excursion started off pretty positively as Bob Cody, Lee Fairbanks, Tom Bogdan, Doug Turner and I gathered at the Sankey Hill Road trailhead at the northern end of Cemex with the mower, weedwackers, pruners, a chainsaw, polesaw, and every other implement of trail maintenance you can think of. The plan was to get all of Cemex cleared and mowed for Sunday's hike, and working together, in conjunction with with what Tom Scardina had cleared with the weedwacker on Wednesday, we made excellent progress, going section by section and having all but the last mile done by 3:00 PM. "One mile left? No sweat. We'll be done by 4:00."

However, when Bob and I headed south from Tony Dytko Road to clean up that "last section", we encountered the impact of the logging operation that's been at work in there over the past week. There was really no trail left to mow, with giant mud ruts, downed trees and limbs, and wiped out blaze trees in its place. That section of trail - Tony Dytko to River Road isn't just closed - it is gone. At least it is right below Tony Dytko Rd for .3 or .4 of a mile. We didn't do the recon the whole way to the railroad tracks as our find was quite discouraging. Some pics from today start here.

(I wrote my rant here at first, but then I deleted it.) We can rebuild it once they are done doing what they are doing there. Stay posted for info going forward.

Thanks to those guys for coming out today- everyone did a great job and the trail from Tony Dytko to Sankey Hill is in excellent shape.

Dave Brewer

5/25 Recap & Plans For Friday 5/27/11

Good Evening Fellow NCTr's:

We had a good morning on the trail today, installing 1 and 1/2 bridges at Cemex near the lime kiln. We only installed 1/2 of the second bridge because the procurer of materials can't count lag screws and rebar pieces. But we did the hard part, which was carrying in the lumber and getting the beams leveled and set. These bog bridges will help ease passage over those little streams that cut through that area.

And . . . Tom Scardina weedwacked a ton of the trail through that section. And . . . we got to meet up with a new trailworker - Tom Bogdan of Wampum. My thanks to Tom, Tom, Jake Erhardt, Lee Fairbanks, and Eleanor Fairbanks (who was playing hookey from Kennywood today) for coming out. A few photos of the beautiful morning start here.

Friday morning I'll be heading to the Sankey Hill Road trailhead at 9:00 AM to spend time a) working through some sections with the DR mower or b) working through there with the weedwacker, or c) both. The use of the DR is dependent upon my vehicle situation and the weather coming together. In any event, I'll be working on clearing trail at 9:00 on Friday morning (until ?). So come on out if you'd like. Spring has really taken off and there is much clearing and pruning to do!

Also wanted to appreciate Jim Rarick and Gail Blakely for spending their sunny evening indoors today working with the Wampum Boro Council members on the proposed Trail Town designation documents. Good meeting - good stuff.

Thanks for all you do for the trail!

Dave

Moms Day Recap and Tuesday 5/10 Plan

Good Evening Fellow NCTr's:

As I predicted, it turned out to be the BEST MOTHERS DAY EVER with seven of our Wampum crew out in the woods on a beautiful Sunday afternoon digging yards and yards of sidehill trail near Painter Run. We walked in from the west side of the run, which turned out to be unfortunate decision on my part, as we needed to be on the east side to continue working on what the SCA crew had accomplished last weekend, and the water level hadn't dropped enough to make a crossing easy. But we improvised, adapted, and overcame to get to where we needed to be.

My thanks to Gordon Meader, Tim Ramsey, Maa and Dennis Garrett, and Lee and Eleanor (Maa) Fairbanks - (it is Mothers Day) - for coming out to work on the new section of trail. Moving right along out there! Some pics from today start here.

Tuesday morning, May 10 we'll take another run at putting a Carsonite post in near the River Road trailhead at Cemex and dress up some sidehill above the railroad tracks near the treestand so the DR mower can be manuevered through there. We were rained out last Tuesday - this week looks much more promising! Leaving from the front of Jata's Diner in Wampum at 9:00 AM to make the drive to River Road and plan to be out for a couple of hours. I'll bring the tools. If mom missed trailwork today and still wants to get out in the woods bring her along. And, if you'd like, come earlier to Jata's for breakfast.

Thanks for all you do for the trail.

Dave Brewer
Trail Work Coordinator
330 531-1623

SCA Crew, Tire Cleanup, DR Mower - All Coming Together!

Good Evening Fellow NCTr's:

The Student Conservation Crew that spent the weekend with us has headed home, leaving us with 400 yards of brand-new, high-quality sidehill trail at Gamelands 285 and the Kirkwood Farm. Those high-school-age volunteers did a great job and worked just as strongly in the rain today as they did in the sunshine yesterday. My thanks goes out to Josh Nard of the SCA in Pittsburgh for the offer of help, Laura and Cheryl the crew advisors (who worked just as hard as the crew did - maybe harder), and all six of those young men and women. Outstanding! They did the difficult part of this one- mile extension and we'll finish off the remainder over the rest of the season.

Also want to appreciate the Wampum Chapter folks for going out and working with them on the trail and for preparing and serving Saturday dinner at the campground. Thanks to Doug Turner, Lee and Eleanor Fairbanks, Dennis Garrett, Rick Ostheimer, Gail Blakely, Bill Majernik, and Dorothy Buquo for all of the support. We also had a chance to meet a newcomer to the Wampum crowd, John Vlah, who handled a pulaski like a pro and built some awesome stone steps on the new section on Saturday. Appreciate him coming out!

I have a Picassa album of pics from the last two days here. I'm sorry but I missed a couple of people in the photos.

As to the tire update - The tires we retrieved from the wetlands at Gamelands 285 a couple of weeks ago are gone off to where all tires that are cleaned up go. Gone! Thank you to Doniele Andrus and Jerry Zona for hauling them away on Friday. Six pickup truck loads I am told. AND . . . . a thank you goes out to Gail Blakely who was able to secure additional donations, from people in the Wampum area, which added to what we already had collected, got us even on the total cost of the disposal. It appears that "persons unknown" added a few tires to our pile out there. Better to the pile I guess than down over that hillside (or any hillside). Thanks again to everyone for their help with that cleanup.

And, Bob Cody reports that he has the DR mower tuned up and running like a top as of this afternoon. Let those weeds grow, we're ready for them now. Thanks Bob!

An excellent weekend! Thanks for all you do to support the trail.

Dave Brewer
Trail Work Coordinator

Trail Work Tuesday Morning 4/26

Good Afternoon Fellow NCTr's:

The plan for this coming Tuesday morning is to go out to Cemex (Snake Run Road east) and work for a couple of hours to take out that old, dead tree that's leaning up against the lime kiln. Our certified sawyer, Bob Cody, says he's ready to get this job done, and with some teamwork (and ladder work, and rope work) we should be able to accomplish this easily. All help is appreciated - all experience levels welcome, because again, this is going to have to be a team effort. I have some extra PPE - helmets and safety glasses - but if you already have these please bring them along.

We'll leave from the front of Jata's restaurant in Wampum at 9:00 AM sharp and head on up to the trailhead from there. Come earlier for breakfast if you'd like.

Dave Brewer
330 531-1623

Changes To Spring Gobbler Hunting Season

Hi Hikers,
Please pass the word to your mailing lists that there are important changes to Spring Gobbler Season. Many are unaware of the seasons, let alone the changes. Thanks

SPRING GOBBLER SEASON Hikers, mountainbikers, birdwatchers and other outdoor recreationists should be aware that the Pennsylvania Game Commission has expanded the Spring Gobbler Season.


From April 30 to May 31 (except Sundays), there will be 232,000 Spring turkey hunters afield, who are expected to harvest about 41,000 bearded birds.
The state’s one-day youth spring gobbler season is Saturday,April 23, and will run from one-half hour before sunrise until noon. The general spring gobbler season is April 30-May 31, but there are new hunting hours.

The legal hunting hours from the opening day of the spring gobbler season through the third Saturday (April 30-May 14) will retain the current one-half hour before sunrise until noon timeframe. However, the remainder of the season (May 16-31) will be expanded to run all day, from one-half hour before sunrise until one-half hour after sunset.

The expanded hours during the last two weeks of the season are to lessen disturbance of nesting hens said Mary Jo Casalena, Game Commission wild turkey biologist. “By then, hunting pressure decreases and most hens are in their later stages of nest incubation, at which point they are less likely to abandon their nest if disturbed."


Note also that the Board extended the spring gobbler season through Tuesday, May 31. That does include Memorial Day. Turkey hunters are not required to wear blaze orange; hunters will be dressed in camouflage, calling in the gobblers from a static position. If you hear a turkey gobbling, assume that it is a hunter.

We suggest that you restrict your outdoor activities to areas where no hunting takes place so as to not interfere with legal hunting activities.

The PGC is proud of their safety record; let's help them keep it that way.

Dick
Richard A. Martin, Coordinator www.PaForestCoalition.org

Mission: Good Stewardship of our Public Lands
Caring for what God has created

Great American Cleanup - Many Thanks To All

Good Morning Fellow NCTr's:

As you can see from these photos we had a very successful Great American Cleanup of PA event yesterday morning and there are many people to thank for making it all come together. I'll start with the on-the-scene-crew from yesterday morning, who in a period of about two and a half hours managed to pull about 140 tires, a couch, a recliner, four or five televisions, and a pile of other trash out of the water and mud and got it ready for proper disposal. Thanks goes out to David Wright, Jim Houk, the McLaughlins - Tom and Adam, Jim Rarick, Lee and Eleanor Fairbanks, and Dennis Garrett for making the trip out and taking some Watt's Mill mud home with them.

You're aware that disposing of the tires presented a special financial challenge this year, and there was really no point in piling them up alongside the road unless we had a way and the means to dispose of them. The response to our appeal for financial support was tremendous, which allowed us to go forward with the project knowing that we had a resolution. A big thank you to Lori Macom, Julie Meier, Diane and Jack Manning, Dwight Fox, Tammy Veloski, Cody Magill, Boyd and Sharon Brewer, Joe Hardisky, Marsha Bennetti, Omie Svetlick of Sooper Dogs in Darlington, Precision Specialty Fastener of Cannellton, and Lora Woodward of Venture Outdoors. Venture Outdoors, I wanted to point out, gave us a $200 Site Improvement grant through their organization's donation program. Altogether we had $460 dollars pledged to tire disposal on this project!

Several of you have asked if we had enough money to take care of the tires we found down in the swamp. The answer is, "Yes, we think so." A thank you goes out to Donielle Andrus and Jerry Zona of Beaver and Lawrence Counties for the help they and their agencies gave us in finding a disposal solution at a cost we could work with. The cost we were given is $2 for a car tire, $3 for a tire on a rim, and $10 per tractor trailer tire. It looks like, tentatively, based on what we could figure out in the rain yesterday morning, that we have twenty-five truck tires and about 115 car tires with three or four of them on a rim. We'll have a total cost once we get them transported to the disposal facility in Bessemer. If we don't have the total amount in pledges we are certainly within a manageable figure on it.

I wanted to mention that PennDot, through the Great American Cleanup Program, supplied us with garbage bags and work gloves, and will be hauling away the trash from the site. They'll also be taking the garbage we picked up in Lawrence County last week. Thanks goes out to Kathy Guthrie of the Beaver County PennDot Office for her help. And Darlington Twp gave us safety equipment to use - safety cones, signing, and flags - so I felt "official" and none of us got run over yesterday morning. Much appreciated.

Lastly, I want to thank Lee Fairbanks and Dennis Garrett for all the work they put in on getting this together over the past ten days. They wore out shoe leather and the tires on their own vehicles, used up copier ink cartridges, burned up the phone lines, taxed their internet connections in sending emails, and talked to a BUNCH of people to get answers to questions and solutions to problems. Wouldn't have happened without their efforts.

Thanks again to everyone for your support and all that you do.

Dave Brewer
Trail Work Coordinator