Volunteers at Work

July Recap

Golf Course Climb Re-Route Volunteer Work Complete!

Major volunteer work at the Golf Course Climb re-route is complete! The trail is looking great thanks to the awesome contributions of so many volunteers. There will always be some necessary follow up trail maintenance, but large-scale volunteer efforts have moved to the Saul re-route.

Thanks to Dan Mercer and Chuck Uniatowski for taking so much time during the week to lead the project and make it happen on the ground!

Thanks to volunteers like Dmitri Zorine, Dave Dannenberg, Tom Coyle, Paul Harris, Lance Honer, Nick Uniatowski, Lou Harris, Neil Silverman, Brian Desrochers, John Cassidy and others. Many thanks to Philly Mountain Biking Association for your ongoing volunteer support.

The entire trail is not complete as of yet, as a professional contractor hired by Fairmount Park will construct the crossing at the bottom of the re-route. As for closing the old trail, the contractor will also fill in the existing Golf Couse Climb gully and FOW volunteers will take on the remainder of the trail closure portion of the project.


Keeping up on Invasive Weeds at Stage 1 Trail

Since the Stage 1 Trail (Bell's Mill to Covered Bridge) project was completed in fall 2008, FOW volunteers have done a ton of work to foster native plant growth and keep out invasives in the area. This work has continued into 2010 and is showing signs of success! In July, we focused on keeping up on the hedge privet that was encroaching on native vegetation.

This work was led by Student Conservation Association (SCA) summer interns Sarah Marley and Jennifer Madden with the help of the SCA summer high school crew and volunteers from the area . Thank you Sarah and Jen!

June Recap

Golf Course Climb Re-route Nearly Complete
 
The largest volunteer-driven Sustainable Trails Initiative project to date is nearly complete under the leadership of volunteers Chuck Uniatowski and Dan Mercer.  The Golf Course Climb re-route is a sustainable re-route of an eroding section of the Yellow Trail near the Walnut Lane Golf Course between the Henry Ave and Walnut Lane Bridges.  This section of trail is too steep and has become a gully that is gradually eroding and impacting nearby habitat.  Fairmount Park has plans to close and re-vegetate this gully.  
 
Excellent progress continued in June and the project is nearly complete!
 
Many thanks to Philly Mountain Biking Association for your ongoing support on this project and volunteers like Dmitri Zorine, Tom Coyle, Paul Harris, Lance Honer, Nick Uniatowski, Lou Harris, Neil Silverman, Brian Desrochers, John Cassidy, Dave Dannenberg  and others.  
 

Devil's Pool Work Continues
Thanks to your help, FOW has had some recent accomplishments along the Orange Trail from Valley Green Road to Livezey and Devil's Pool.

Planting
Continuing on the Sustainable Trails Initiative restoration project from Valley Green Road to Livezey Lane, volunteers completed planting of about 200 trees and shrubs!  The tree and shrub planting is an important step for habitat restoration in impacted areas.  A variety of 17 species of trees and shrubs were planted like River Birch, Swamp White Oak, Silky Dogwood and Steeplebush.
 
On Saturday, 6/5 National Trails Day about 35 volunteers planted 150 trees and shrubs along the Orange Trail between Valley Green to Pee Wee Rock (almost to Devil's Pool). Particularly challenging on National Trails Day was the logistics of getting all the 150 plants to some not-so-accessible planting spots.  The volunteers handled this with ease!  Thanks to Charles Kline, John Miller and everyone at REI, Conshohocken for sponsoring the event.  

On Thursday, 6/17 a small crew of 5 volunteers finished up the remainder of the planting of another 50 trees and shrubs on the Valley Green side of Devil's Pool.  Thanks to Joe Jennings and Wes Beers for coming out on short notice.  
 
Clean Up
Meanwhile, we continue to clean up trash and graffiti and outreach to park users.  Due to the hot summer and popularity of Devil's Pool we are seeing an increase in use.  At the same time we are seeing some marginal improvements in terms of pool users being more responsible with their trash - though we know there is still plenty of work to be done.   We saw a new batch of graffiti pop up on the trees and rocks in June, but volunteers quickly took care of it!  We appreciate all of your help in keeping the area clean and in good shape.