Orientation, Lake of Three Fires and the Trails Summit!

What a wild month! June has seen the trail crew all across the state of Iowa, from the southwestern corner at Waubonsie State Park to the Mississippi river at Dubuque, and many places in between. Work began at our primary summer work site: Lake of Three Fires State Park, the summer crew survived the rigors of AmeriCorps orientation at Springbrook, and we helped pull off one of the biggest events of the year: the first Iowa Trails Summit (many props to Delilah for her vast contributions to this event).

June started off with AmeriCorps Orientation. The first order of business was a volunteer event at Rock Creek State Park near Kellogg Iowa. There the trail crew and members of other Keepers of the Land programs removed invasive species such as Autumn Olive (an invasive shrub). We then made our way to Springbrook Conservation Education Center. It was there that all of the Keepers of the Land members spent the rest of the week, going through various educational programs (very similar to the programs we crew leaders went through last fall).

All of the 2010 AmeriCorps/DNR Keepers of the Land members

The next week was (mostly) spent at Lake of Three Fires State Park. This park will be our primary work site for summer. Various factors have caused extensive damage to the trails and trail crew will have its work cut out for it in order to restore them by the end of the summer. Due to legal constraints, we are also unable to excavate the trails farther down than a few inches, which limits our options. The first week was therefore spent hauling in gravel and excavating what we could with our walk behind bobcat and our skid loader.

Rick and Adam load rock into the mule...

...which is then unloaded into a HUGE gaping hole on the trail. Just one example of the many problems on the trails at Lake of Three Fires.

Unfortunately we were plagued with rainy weather, and the already soggy trails were even more difficult to negotiate. This left us scrambling for options to keep everyone busy. The crew split into small groups to tackle various errands and tasks, within and outside the park. I assigned several people to make phone calls to local businesses in order to procure food and drink donations for the next week's volunteer events. I then took advantage of several downed trees in our campsite (one struck by lightning the night before about 100 meters from our campsite!) to conduct a chainsaw practice session. After these options were exhausted, we again broke into groups in order to find work at other nearby parks.

Cody stands next to his handiwork after a chainsaw practice session. Note the kevlar chaps he's wearing. Safety first!

While a small group of us stayed to work on the muddy trails, the majority of the crew was sent to the nearby Green Valley State Park to finish siding the check in station we built last winter/spring. At the end of the week, a small detachment was sent to Waubonsie to work on the tent platforms we had work on last winter. Work consisted primarily of painting and a small amount of carpentry. Though this is a rough start to our labors at Three Fires, it is training the entire crew to be flexible and adaptable in a job that is at the mercy of the weather.

After an extended weekend, the crew met at Hickory Hills Park south of Waterloo to attend the first Iowa Trails Summit. This event was an impressive undertaking, intended to bring together leaders and members of various trail user groups. Representatives of mountain bikers, ATV/Dirt Bikers, Hikers, Equestrians, Volksmarchers, Kayakers/Canoers and other user groups were invited to the two day event, which took place at UNI and the Riverview Recreation Area in Waterloo. The day before the summit was a volunteer event held at Riverview Recreation area, a small park created out of a reclaimed landfill. Trail crew constructed several small trails for use by hikers/volksmarchers, and then spent the rest of the day cleaning trash and junk off of the Mountain biking trail. This was a significant undertaking and much of the trash had to be removed using a backhoe loader.

Delilah signs up one of our volunteers at Riverview Recreation area. Food and snacks visible here were donated by the local HyVee. Thanks!

A detachment of the crew (and a volunteer) returns after clearing a section of trail for the summit.

Nothing like a well earned break!

Josh works on clearing trash off of the mountain bike trail.

A backhoe loader helps us remove trash.

The pile of trash we pulled off of the mountain bike trail. Nasty!

Friday was the first day of the summit, and took place at UNI. The day was open to the public, and representatives of various public and private organizations (such as the Iowa DNR, Sierra Club, Trees Forever and so many more) were invited to attend and participate. The day was divided into four (approximately) hour long sessions, each covering a different trail related topic (such as planning and funding a trail, or accommodating multiple user groups). Each session was presided over by a moderator and four panelists, each an expert representative of a different trail user group. The moderator and panelists each provided a ten minute talk about an issue related to the overall session topic, and the entire panel then participated in a question and answer session. The entire day was very educational, and provided insight into the many perspectives held by a diverse cross section of trail user groups. It was also an excellent day for the myriad organizations that are invested in trails to network and coordinate with each other. At the end of the day, a barbecue dinner was provided.

Peter Komendowski provides the opening remarks at first day of the Trails Summit at UNI.

Our first panel of the day.

Mark provides some remarks during a break in the sessions.

Panelists were given 10 minutes to provide as much information as possible...

...and they made the most of it.





Leah and Molly take the opportunity to network during a break.

Question and answer sessions were held after all panelists had finished their speeches.

Leah takes the opportunity to ask a question.

Pat Boddy, deputy director of the Iowa DNR moderates a panel.

Senator Bill Dotzler provides the closing remarks.

Saturday was the outdoor family day at Riverview Recreation Area. Representatives from many organizations and user groups held events and sessions in the park, such as ATV rides, equestrian demonstrations, mountain biking, kayaking, hiking and many many others. Trail Crew members had various duties, from directing traffic and parking to interpretive trail work. We were also able to participate in the festivities and events. Despite being the first Iowa Trails Summit, there was a substantial turnout and it was a very successful day (particularly for Delilah who was so heavily invested in the organization of the summit).

ATVers offer rides across the off road course.

Molly tries to walk a straight line with impaired vision goggles designed to simulate being drunk. They were very effective to say the least.

A tiny dirt bike. So cute!

Sisters prepare to go kayaking...

...and race on the way back!

Alycia Carlsbourg and Omar provide equestrian safety demonstrations.

The Jaycees provide food for all!

After a long week's work, Adam is completely pooped. ZzZzZzZz.

The remainder of June (and theoretically as much of the summer as we can manage) will be spent working at Lake of Three Fires. More updates to come!

Summer Mode!

During the last week of May, the newly enlarged Trail Crew got a taste of how summer workweeks are going to be.  We got to experience the challenge of taking on multiple simultaneous projects, survived an intense storm, learned a thing or two about keeping eighteen people occupied during too-wet working conditions, and continued to revise and improve on the amounts and types of tools we pack for particular tasks.  

Our main task at Mines of Spain State Recreation Area in Dubuque was to fix this staircase (built by the Trail Crew last summer) that had been broken by "falling" boulders.  

Our fearless leader, Mark, showed us how fun being the cause of "falling" boulders can be, and we had a great ethics discussion on why people do things like this and how/if we can stop them.

Another project we worked on at Mines of Spain was replacing rotted/damaged railroad ties on the Catfish Creek Trail.  Railroad ties are seldom the best trail building option (they can leak creosote, a harmful preservative, into the soil) this trail has soooooooooooo many railroad tie steps (hundreds upon hundreds) it would take a crew our size multiple years to switch to something better like flagstone, not to mention more money than the parks have just for the stone.  Our best option here was to replace the dangerous steps with new ties, and hope that we have the resources to opt for something different in the future.

Another project was to rebuild/fix waterbars on Calcite Trail--a trail that was built right through the drainage area between two hills, and at much more than a sustainable slope--creating a perfect path for channeling rainwater runoff, and thus a nightmare of a trail to maintain.  The ideal solution would be to re-route the trail, which is again too great an undertaking for this crew when other parks have equal if not worse problems.  However, we were able to improve the situation by building up existing waterbars--a task that will have to be redone every year, but will go a long way in keeping the trail intact and usable.

Waterbars are basically speed-bumps for water that will at least slow down the flow, but will optimally divert the water off of the trail altogether.  This can be aided by accompanying the waterbar with a "knick", a semi-circular, shaved-down section of trail that is canted to the outside.  This allows water to flow off of the trail before even hitting the waterbar, greatly extending the waterbar's life.

A series of waterbars on a steep hill

Adam helps carve a "knick", so water will drain off the trail before hitting the waterbar

An extremely well constructed waterbar--it is minimally disruptive to a hiker and the accompanying knick will help sheet water off of the trail gently instead of creating a narrow channel of runoff.

On one section of the trail, the terrain extended uphill on both sides.  This is the worst place you could build a trail, because there is nowhere else for the water to go--the trail IS the drainage canal.  Here we built our waterbars to direct the water to the side of the trail, and then dug large "silt-retention pools" for the water to collect in, and hopefully sink into the ground rather than rush down the trail.  If these pools fill up, the water should meander through some plants, debris and undergrowth before coming back to the trail, thus greatly diffusing its velocity and volume and therefore destructive power.

Here is a diagram showing how one of the waterbar/silt retention pool combos we built should work. This silt retention pool is about a 2' deep hole, and we made it about 2' x 3' in size.  We covered it with debris to make it look less like a random giant hole, and in a week or two plants will return to the area to make it even less noticeable.  As you can see, a large stream of water should exit the trail before the waterbar and collect in the pool area.  If it does overflow only small amounts of water will return to the trail at a considerably slower pace.  

One last project was replacing railings and other supporting rails on these really neat floating bridges near Horseshoe Canyon.  It was a difficult task, and the crew even made use of a boat to access outer areas of the bridge.

One of the great things about being an AmeriCorps crew is that some of our time can be used for "education". This is one of the things that really sets our program apart, and makes for an enriching, often life-changing experience, rather than just working on construction projects for a summer.  Typically this occurs out on the trails, when we see certain plants, animals, or insects.

Leah stands in a large grouping of Garlic Mustard, an invasive plant that spreads rapidly and prevents other native species from growing.  There is simply too much for parks to get rid of, and one way we are encouraging people to get involved is to go to your local parks and eat some!  Seriously, the plant is edible, healthy, and tastes exactly like garlic.  It has the texture of a tender lettuce leaf.  I've had some in Caesar salad and loved it, but I've also heard it makes a mean pesto!

A silkworm dangles nearly 20 feet from an overhead limb.

One of four turtle sightings that day!

However, sometimes adverse conditions (rain, in this case) keep us indoors and we can use this "education" time to watch presentations, engage in discussions, or even visit educational sites or facilities.  On our final day in Dubuque we spent a couple of hours at the National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium.  If you've never been to a museum with a bunch of biology, forestry, and environmental science majors, I highly recommend it.  

Next on our plate for the month:  AmeriCorps Orientation, starting work at Lake of Three Fires, and attending/volunteering at the 2010 Iowa Trails Summit in Cedar Falls/Waterloo.

We will be building a trail for pedestrians that will be featured at the Summit, if you would like to come see what we do and help out, here is a flyer for our trailbuilding day:

Summer Crew, Assemble!

The Summer Crew has arrived!

After tying off our loose ends at the various parks we'd worked at, Trail Crew spent two weeks at the Polk City Shop, preparing ourselves and our equipment for the trials/trails of the coming summer. This was mostly manual labor, as we cleaned and sorted our tools, equipment and vehicles. However Trail Crew is much more than a simple labor crew, and there was a great deal of preparation to be made in order to maintain this standard. Educational presentations were prepared by all of us in order to introduce the new crew to our bio-diesel program, ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) trail construction, environmental ethics and even healthy and sustainable eating.

Troy, Ty and Tim enjoy a campfire on our first morning.

On the morning of May 17th, the entire crew assembled for the first time. After setting up camp at Massey Marina and making introductions, we brought everyone to the Mines of Spain Interpretive Center for our favorite (yeah right) job ever: paper work. This took up most of the morning, and after lunch we made our first presentations. These were about the program's history and basic trail techniques. This then lead into our first hike, lead by myself, Adam and a veteran of last year's Trail Crew: Troy Heeren. As we hiked the various trails at the Mines of Spain, we pointed out the various problems and the implemented solutions.

This was not only a learning experience for the new Summer Crew members, but also for those of us leading the hike. Teaching is often the best way to learn, particularly when teaching those who are entirely inexperienced because they often have a fresh and novel perspective of the material. Their questions often challenge you to not take anything for granted, and can also cause you to question aspects of your work you had never even fully considered. This made Monday a very enriching experience for everyone.

Tuesday was spent with more presentations, followed by our first real project (and VGP): the completion and maintenance of the trail to Ice Cave at Pictured Rocks Park in Jones County. This was the site of work for several generations of Trail Crew, including us. The limestone terrace we built last fall has held up quite well (with the help of the Jones County Conservation Office) and Pictured Rocks Park itself has gone through a major overhaul. It was good to return to the site of our earlier work, and to assess it with the new perspectives we've developed after months of experience working on various other projects. Overall we were proud of our work, and glad to return to provide some finishing touches.

The Crew assembles on the stone terrace we built last fall.

Our primary project was extending our trail to the newly completed picnic shelter. We also provided some minor maintenance to the trail where it needed it (mostly filling in eroded portions), closed off a section of the old trail that is no longer in service, and transplanted a number of local plants onto a section of heavily disturbed soil that needed to be restored. This was a hefty load for the new Summer Crew, but they took everything in eager stride and performed admirably. We also had the assistance of two volunteers. A special thanks goes out to Professor Charles Frohman and his son for joining us on the trail!

Crew members and a volunteer work to extend the trail to the picnic shelter.

Delilah and Molly haul rock out to a section of trail that needs attention.

Adam, Elizabeth and Shirley transplant various species of plants to the section of bare soil.

The whole crew assembles after a job well done!

Wednesday and Thursday consisted of a mix of presentations and various projects. Our primary work was on a damaged stairway at the Horseshoe Bluff at the Mines of Spain. It is a harsh reality that a construction project that takes days, weeks or months can be deconstructed in moments. This is a reality that Trail Crew has to face on a frequent basis. While it is most often nature that inflicts the damage and wear on our projects, careless and malicious people are often the source of our most significant problems. In the case of this stairway, various welds and boards were broken by persons who found entertainment in dropping large stones off the bluff. Frustrating as such activity is, we can't allow ourselves to be demoralized by such carelessness. Instead we press on, doing our best to repair the damage and prevent such problems from occurring in the future.

Overall it was a busy, tough and taxing week. But it was also fun, enriching and exciting. The next few months promise more of all of the above, and Trail Crew is eager for it!