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By Todd Chambers
The Rachel Carson Trails Conservancy is a nonprofit volunteer-based organization, and many of you dedicate countless volunteer hours toward projects associated with the work that we do. Most volunteer hours are spent dealing with blazing, repairing, and maintaining our trails or work associated with our two main events, the Rachel Carson Trail Challenge and the Baker Trail UltraChallenge.
Our Board of Directors is involved with much of the work described above as well as providing management and direction for the Conservancy as a whole. The board's work involves everything from getting out this newsletter, working with local municipalities to accommodate our trails, developing new maps and updating our trail guides to coordinating with other trail groups and writing proposals to raise funds for all of our work. Two important tasks that have taken a significant amount of time in the last year are outlined below.
Rachel Carson Trail Extension: Harrison Hills Park is located in the northeast corner of Allegheny County and serves as the eastern terminus to the Rachel Carson Trail. It is situated on a bluff 400 feet above the Allegheny River and the nearby town of Freeport. Across the river is the southern terminus of our Baker Trail and at the bottom of the hill, in Freeport, is the southern terminus of the Butler Freeport Trail. A fourth trail, currently in the planning stages, will extend the existing North Shore Trail currently ending in Millvale to Freeport and eventually to Erie, PA.
Our goal is to extend the Rachel Carson Trail, as a hiking/mountain biking trail, down the riverside bluff to create a junction that will allow access between these trails. We have been working with Andy Baechle, the director of the Allegheny County Parks Department to make this trail link possible and we received a Laurel Foundation grant for the initial design.
Pashek Associates, a landscape architecture firm located on Pittsburgh's North Side was chosen for this work, which is now underway.
Baker Trail along the Clarion River: The Baker Trail crosses the Clarion River on the Gravel Lick Road bridge and turns on to River Lane to follow the Clarion River into Cook Forest State Park and beyond. In recent years the Conservancy has received complaints from some of the owners on River Lane about hikers being disruptive and damaging their property. We have also received complaints from hikers being harassed by owners claiming they are prohibited from using the trail along the lane.
As many of you know, the 132-mile Baker Trail is located on both public and private property. One of our tasks is to work with property owners to accommodate the trail, which in most areas is in the same location it was when the trail was created more than 60 years ago.
We are prepared to resolve every credible issue the owners have raised. We believe this is a unique and beautiful section of the trail, and we're committed to protecting it so it remains open and accessible.
Happy hiking to all! |