Along with an estimated 1.1 million annual visitors, I have personally walked, jogged, bicycled, fished, cross-country skied, kayaked, and climbed cliffs in the park. Best of all, I currently help plan and execute large and small infrastructure and maintenance projects. On a lovely day any visitor will encounter people of all ages and backgrounds reveling in the opportunity to be outdoors away from the noise, press, heat, or cold wind of the concrete, asphalt, and steel metropolis.
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The adult hawks remained at Hildacy throughout the year. Many red-shouldered hawks migrate south in the fall, but apparently this pair was able to continue to find enough food to sustain them through the cold months. When spring arrived, the pair constructed a new nest less than a hundred yards from the Natural Lands Trust office building. During the construction of the nest, both birds were often seen and heard flying over the office and defending their territory.
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But the true wonder of the new Big Woods Trail is its accessibility. Designed to expand recreational activities to more people, this trail is hard-paved at a 5% slope. Unlike the rocky and muddy trails throughout the area, this trail is wheel-friendly and opens up hikes to wheelchairs, strollers, and other tools of limited mobility. As an educator, this enables me to bring more people out into the field for interpretive walks and lessons, which thrills me.
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During a particularly exciting bird walk along the creek with community residents on May 10, 2014 I was amazed by the sheer numbers of migrating songbirds that we were finding– from Worm-eating, Blue-winged, and Bay-breasted Warblers to Gray-cheeked Thrushes and a White-eyed Vireo–when up popped a Red-headed Woodpecker. Our excitement nearly tripled as we got to see this beautiful but rare bird for an extended period of time.
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The Yardley Farmers’ Market, started by community volunteers, is held in Buttonwood Park every Saturday morning from 9 AM to 1 PM from May to October. 2017 will be our third year. Families and neighbors come together to shop for local food, enjoy the daily entertainment, and meet up with other friends and family. It’s the perfect location for the market, and the market could not exist without it.
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One of the unforeseen benefits with this project is how it has engaged the staff in making energy consumption reductions throughout the building. The staff started calculating the energy demands of specific areas of the building and started targeting energy-efficient lighting upgrades to those areas. This story was publicized in the local news and the park was contacted by a local electrical retailer who wanted to get involved in our efforts to reduce consumption in the building. As it turned out in the end, the local retailer donated another $20,000 in LED lighting upgrades to the building, which will not only lower our total electrical needs over time, but ultimately reduce man-hours in maintenance with the longer lifespan of new LED bulbs.
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The aqueduct structure failed in April 2016 and we currently have two 50-inch diameter plastic corrugated pipes with coffer dams on both ends over the aqueduct to allow us to bypass water over the structure. Without the bypass, we would not be able to water the canal from the Raubsville area down to Centre Bridge. This aqueduct is crucial to canal operations, because it allows us to send water through the canal for approximately 24 miles down to Centre Bridge. With the temporary bypass in place we can still send water south, but only at approximately half of what our normal flow would be.
ReadThe Trolley Trail is not a typical rails- to-trails project where there are miles and miles of abandoned train tracks easily ready for a straightforward conversion. The original Trolley Trail now winds through swamps, backyards, Little League baseball fields, public roads, and all sorts of personal property.
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As a trail user, I enjoy walking and biking the trail, alone or with my wife. Much of the trail is shaded by large trees or passes by open meadows, providing a scenic backdrop for our outings. Bluebird boxes have been placed along the trail, wildflowers attract a variety of native birds and bees, and deer and other wildlife can often be seen from the pathway. A local blogger recently posted a photo of a red fox happily trotting down the trail; apparently humans are not the only CVT enthusiasts! I find the trail to be an easy way to get an hour or two of exercise and fresh air, and I often come across friends and neighbors doing the same thing.
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It is a trail for everybody. Most any bike will do to ride this rail trail, so there is no need for special equipment, extra gears, or special tires. Just ride. I’ve seen road bikes on the trail and I’ve seen spider bikes. And I’ve seen everything in between, including hybrids, cruisers, and recumbent bikes and trikes. They all work.
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We issued the invitation, and people volunteered. During the next four years, thousands of people, from Pennsylvania and beyond, visited the park to try their hand at archaeology, learning about local history as they carefully uncovered brick, nails, pottery, glass, and more at the historical site. Some people even planned vacations around a park visit, having learned of the Public Archaeology Dig from the Conde Nast publication, Cookie, and an airline magazine.
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As the southern trailhead, Columbia Borough has benefitted from the construction of Columbia Crossing at Columbia River Park. This facility provides restrooms, information, interpretive displays, and indoor/outdoor event space that can be rented by community members. Columbia Borough, which owns the facility, has entered into an agreement with the Susquehanna Heritage Area for management of the facility. This facility has seen monthly visitors in excess of 3,500 in both June and July. As a volunteer at Columbia Crossing, I have met with visitors from Lancaster and surrounding counties who were drawn to the area by Columbia Crossing and the River Trail.
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The transformation of the Clifford Township Recreational Complex began in 2006 with a $20,000 grant from the Keystone Fund to install a new playground and add dugouts to the existing baseball field. Improvements have continued each year thanks to the commitment of the Township Supervisors and the support of local organizations and community members. The complex is now a true neighborhood park complete with a regulation Little League field, playground areas for children ages 2-5 and 6-12, walking trails, access to the Tunkhannock Creek, and plenty of greenspace.
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While this project will not offer a bright, shiny new amenity for our park visitors to see and appreciate, it is crucial to maintaining a water production and distribution system that does allow for our visitors to use comfort facilities, fill their bottles at a water fountain, or take a shower at one of our modern cabins. This project will improve part of the skeleton of the park that supports so many of the other amenities, and this will be accomplished through Keystone funding.
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Although the process of creating the Conservancy and working to accomplish its mission of protecting the land put the idea of a trail on the back burner, Roz never lost sight of the vision of a community trail. She envisioned a place accessible to all: a place to walk through and enjoy the woods; a place for kids to learn to ride bikes without parents having to worry about cars; a place to push strollers, jog, or cross-country ski. The vision was in motion and there was no doubt she would prevail.
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As an undergraduate student, I used to walk to Musser Gap from my dorm room on campus to spend a weekend or more backpacking. In the past few years, trails were created that connect Musser Gap to Shingletown Gap and the Mid-State Trail–one could start a hike at Musser Gap and hike for weeks without leaving the woods.
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My personal connection with Thousand Steps stems from many years ago when my parents took me there are a child. As an adult, it was one of the first places that I brought my wife when we were dating and she was new to the area. Now, later in life, I continue to bring my children, friends, and family on hikes there. Currently I enjoy running the trails in the area, and Thousand Steps is a great place to begin or finish a long run.
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The past four years working as a Nature Preschool teacher have been incredibly eye-opening. The benefits of getting kids outside unfold right before my eyes. I’ve learned that the best type of learning happens organically. It is meaningful, relevant, and exciting. True learning happens when you discover answers to your questions first hand. At Nature Preschool we work to do just that. We use the trails, ponds, streams, leaves, and every little crevice under a log to learn.
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A Five Star Trail highlight for our family occurred when our son Regis did his Eagle Scout Project as a service to the Trail. Working with Malcolm Sias from Westmoreland County Parks, Regis planned and coordinated the building of two mini-pavilions at two different locations along the Five Star Trail with Scout Troop 405 from South Greensburg. The pavilions are large individual picnic tables protected by a shingled roof, and provide a place for trail users to rest beneath shelter from the sun or rain.
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Fifteen years later, it is now a regular part of my job as a park ranger to share my wonderment out on the 6 to 10 Trail. It’s been almost ten years since the trail was developed. Some sections along the oldest parts of the railroad are for hiking only. The trails are still fairly primitive, but much improved since my first time out there. Other parts of the trail, where the rough ballast rocks used to give me so much trouble, have now been covered with smooth, crushed limestone for the enjoyment of thousands of hikers and bicyclists every month.
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