by Jenn Ulmer
We had a fantastic Friday turnout of 11 eager workers. Tiadaghton State Forester Ben Sands had thoroughly scouted the 43.5-mile-or-so Black Forest Trail (BFT), marking sections needing the most work, and we prioritized 2 spots. On Friday, we split into 2 crews to tackle a particularly overgrown 2.5-mile segment in the Algerine Wild Area in the northeast quadrant of the trail. The crews started from opposite ends, with the goal to meet in the middle. As often happens, we succeeded in taming all but a short section in the middle after some mower problems. We also learned that the name Algerine refers to lumber-era pirates.
Bright and early Saturday morning, most of us chose weapons of destruction (Pulaskis, hazel hoes, fire rakes, loppers, and brushcutters) and tackled the section between the T-Squared Trail and Pump Station in the southwest quadrant. The whole section needed to be trimmed back, and some segments were drifting close to the edge of a drop-off. Volunteers worked hard to clear, dig sidehill, and reposition the trail—now flatter and wider—upslope away from the precipice. Another crew, armed with brushcutters and a chainsaw, headed east to conquer some overgrown sections between Manor Fork Road and the Gas Line Trail. That evening, the Trail Care leaders treated the hardworking crew to some Oktoberfest-ish sauerkraut and brats. Others contributed by bringing cider, iced tea, plates and plastic ware, and cheese and crackers. I think we all sufficiently replenished our energy stores among some good-natured kidding and story swapping around the campfire. Thank you to Hyner Run State Park for the campsites.
After a night of some fairly heavy rain, we awoke to promising skies. We split up to finish Saturday’s work. These segments are now in much better shape for hikers and backpackers that take on the challenging BFT. Some of our crew had the pleasure of seeing the same backpackers enjoying different parts of the trail during these 3 days. Others enjoyed seeing remnants of Bob Webber’s trail-clearing efforts (the ax-cut blowdown was a telltale sign), and some of us wandered down the short Bicentennial Trail to admire the stalwart, virgin, 4-foot-diameter hemlock tree found there.
Thank you so much to all those who came from near and far to work with us: Tony Robbins, Donna Thompson, Dave Walp, Ed Lawrence, Tom Bastian, Wanda Shirk, Mary Ladish, Elena Rose, and Matt Crosbie, as well as 3 retired forestry workers—John Eastlake (who also helped lay out and build the BFT), Jeff Raisch, and Bob Merrill. Ben recruited some other foresters for Sunday work: Doug Frederick and Ben Gamble, along with Department of Conservation and Natural Resources volunteer Boyd Clark Jr. We also had the pleasure of breaking in 2 Trail Care rookies: Liz Lingle and Doug Van Brunt. We hope you all found the trail work as rewarding (and the camaraderie as engaging) as we did and come back soon. In fact, we hope to see you all (and more) return next year (tentatively April 21-23) to continue improving the BFT!