Trail makeover with Friends of Deckers Creek

On April 22nd (EARTH DAY!) I arrived in Morgantown, WV to meet with Friends of Deckers Creek (FODC) OSM VISTA, Doug Gilbert.  FODC is a nonprofit watershed organization that strives to improve the water quality of Deckers Creek through water remediation projects, community outreach and public education.  It is FODC's goal that by 2020 Deckers Creek and its tributaries will be healthy enough to provide clean, safe, and accessible areas for water-related recreation (e.g., kayaking; fishing).  

Doug introduced me to a couple of the staff at FODC and then informed me we would be hosting a volunteer outing for a group of West Virginia University students.  The day's mission: to widen a walking trail at FODC's Outdoor Learning Park (OLP), a local green space adjacent to Deckers Creek that is used for light recreation and education opportunities.  Apparently the width of the trail was restricting the amount of people that could walk on the trail and if someone were to meet another individual while walking on the trail they would have to step off the trail rather than simply walking by them.  The City of Morgantown's Board of Parks and Recreation Commissioners provided equipment so that we could complete the task. 

Arriving to meet the Friends of Deckers Creek Executive Director, Liz Wiles, and Water Remediation Project Manager, Tim Denicola.

 We met the group at the OLP and got right to work!  With only a few hours to work we focused heavily on moving the existing rock border and removing grass in order to widen the trail.  The students worked diligently and really seemed to enjoy getting the opportunity to spend Earth Day outdoors doing something that would benefit the community.  Unfortunately the goal of completing the project in the allotted time proved to be a bit ambitious.  The group did put a huge dent in the amount of work that needed to be done, and if I was not a paper doll I believe I could have better contributed to the project.  Doug says that he will work with FODC's Volunteer Coordinator to recruit community members to finish the project in May.  

While we were unable to complete the project our efforts did receive good press coverage.  Both the Dominion Post and the Daily Athenaeum, the City's newspaper and WVU's student newspaper, respectively, covered the event.  It was exciting to see how interested the media was in covering the collaborative work between FODC and WVU students.  

West Virginia University students and OSM VISTA Doug Gilbert after a hard day of trail construction.

Parks and a Pedal-Paddle Trail in PA

Hey, guys! I made it to Pennsylvania and I've been checking out everything that's going on with Evergreen Conservancy and the Crooked Creek Watershed Association. I even got to help out around the Indiana County Conservation District office as they were getting ready for the Indiana County Envirothon that's coming up in May.

My new friend and I made sure the walkie talkies were working.

Check out ICCD's AMD orange shirts they got for the  Envirothon!

Kelly brought me along to a meeting about a grant Evergreen is submitting for Homer City Borough, located just a few miles down the road from Indiana. Evergreen and the Borough built a canoe launch last year along the creek that passes through town, and they want to turn the site into a park with community gardens, rain gardens, a nice pavilion, and a Pedal-Paddle Trail. A local walking/biking trail passes close to the park, so trail users would be able to leave their bikes at the take-out point down the creek, put their kayak or canoe in at the Homer City launch, then paddle down the creek, pick up their bikes and pedal back up the trail to their car, then drive to pick up their kayaks. Sounds like it would be pretty cool (and maybe a little confusing to describe) if they can make it happen! I would keep my fingers crossed for them, but they don't really move that way... They were working down to the wire to get everything ready to submit, but they did it! I was even there to witness the triumphant clicking of the submit button and the ensuing celebration. What a rush!

Evergreen board member John and I love parks!

After all that office work, I was glad to get out in the field. We visited Bear Run, a major tributary of the Susquehanna that eventually empties into the Chesapeake Bay. This was Kelly's first time visiting the site, so we both learned quite a bit. There are 25 acres of abandoned mine land and 2000 ft of impacted stream channels at the site along with two major abandoned mine discharges that contribute about 63% of the iron loading in the Bear Run Watershed. To address this, Evergreen partnered with several organizations a few years ago to construct a passive treatment system. We went out with a couple of  Evergreen volunteers to install a datalogger so they can monitor and compile water quality data from the stream. Evergreen now has 32 dataloggers installed in streams throughout the county with plans for more! 

Hard at work installing the datalogger.

Abandoned by the abandoned mine discharge.

Now it's back to West Virginia! I can't wait to see what's in store for me down there!

Building Mad Capacity in Leetonia

Carlotta, checking in again. I've traveled north from Marietta and made my way to Leetonia, Ohio. This place has a lot of crazy stuff happening. Justin made me sit at his crazily over crowded desk and do paper work for what seemed like hours! Luckily I helped him get a lot accomplished. We called sponsors for his upcoming 5K race. Afterwards he took me to the park to show me around. I enjoyed reviewing some of the educational material he has put at the park. I got to see all the ovens and explore in the area. Justin informed me that they were constructed in 1866 and were the economic backbone of the community for 60 years! They employed 1/3 of the population of the town. I am standing in a coke oven, but I am only doing this under careful supervision from a relatively unqualified professional. Justin wants everybody to stay out of the ovens. Finally, we distributed some maps of the Village at the local bike trail. I got to see how the bike trail has a gap through town, and many bicyclists get lost. Justin is such an awesome hipster bicyclist himself that he decided to make maps showing people how to get across town and show them where all the neat stuff in Leetonia is. These must be helpful because this is the second batch he's had to deliver in 2 months! Welp, time to head to Indiana, PA. Please, don't let him put me back in the envelope...it's so dark in there. WAIT! AAAAAHHHHHH!