august 2003 friends of white clay creek state park newsletter

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FWCCSP RECORDFriends of White Clay Creek State Park Newsletter

Friends of White Clay Creek State ParkP.O. Box 9734

Newark, DE 19714-9734www.whiteclayfriends.org

Volume 6, No.2 August 2003

Public Meeting on August 21 to Review Trail PlansThe Division of Parks and Recreation has scheduled a public meeting to review proposed

additions and modifications to the trails at White Clay Creek State Park. The meeting will be heldon August 21, 2003 from 6:00 p.rn. until 8:00 p.m. in the cafeteria of Wilson Elementary School,14 Forge Road, Newark, DE.

Discussions will focus on the following topics:1) Extension of the Tri-Valley Trail (Pomeroy Line) between Wedgewood Road and Creek Road2) Options for relocating/renovating the cross country trails3) Development of the Tri-Valley trail between Hopkins Road and the Park Office4) Modifications to other multiuse trails within the park.

Changes to the trail system immediately adjacent to the Carpenter Recreation Areaparking lot will be the subject of a future meeting.

For further information contact Mark Chura at (302) 739-3423, Division of Parks andRecreation, 89 Kings Highway, Dover, Delaware.New Boundary Line Trail is Ready for Hikers

The Friends have recently completed work on the Boundary Line Trail, a beautiful newconnector trail that runs between Yeatman Station Road in Pennsylvania and Comer Ketch Roadin Delaware. The trail provides access to a little used area of the White Clay Creek Preserve.

This new trail was conceived, designed, and constructed entirely by Friends volunteersunder the leadership of Wendel Cassel, with guidance from the State Parks Trail ChiefTwenty-nine volunteers worked 432 hours completing the 0.6 mile long trail, including building afootbridge across a tributary of the creek. We thank the many volunteers who made this possible.

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At this time the trail can best be accessed by following Yeatman's Station Road (akaYeatmans Mill Road) from Doe Run Road into Pennsylvania. When Quartz Mill Road goes of f tothe left, stay to the right (''No Outlet") and follow Yeatman's Station Road to the point where itis closed by a gate. Park in a small parking area on the right and walk back up the roadapproximately Y4 mile to the trailhead on your right.

The new trail also opens up a beautiful loop hike starting from the Park Office, going upThompson Station Road, left on Cart Road Trail, right on Comer Ketch Road, left on BoundaryLine Trail, left on Yeatman Station Road, and left along the trail following the east side oftheCreek back to the Park Office vicinity. Note that the trailhead for the Boundary Line Trail onComer Ketch Road is not well marked at this time but can be found by going approximately 0.2miles down a very long driveway at mailbox munber 1144 and watching for the trail on your left.New Web Site is Up an d Running

In June we launched our beautiful new web site, thanks to the efforts of Christa Stefaniskoand Rick Hall. The new address is www.whitec1ayfriends.org. Take a look - and use it regularlyto keep up with our activities and plans.Friends Leader Receives Another Award

On June 7, National Trails Day, Wendel Cassel was recognized as the American HikingSociety's 2003 Volunteer of the Year for Delaware. This is in addition to the 2002 Greenwaysand Trails Volunteer Award that Wendel received in March.

These awards recognize Wendel's outstanding efforts, both as a volunteer and as avolunteer leader, to enhance the trail system in our park. For more than three years, Wendel hasled our trail work projects, resulting in more than 2000 volunteer hours devoted to maintaining orimproving the trails. As a result of this volunteer work, supplementing the efforts of theDivision's trail crew, many beautiful new trails are now available for park visitors to enjoy. Ourthanks go to Wendel and to all the volunteers who have worked under his leadership.Ongoing Projects and Activities Listed

Just to keep our readers aware of some of the things we are doing, here is a list of ourcurrently active projects: scheduled trail work, adopt-a-trail, trail benches, kestrel & bluebirdboxes, habitat improvement/reforestation, advocacy, historical booklet, member-led parkprograms, wildlife habitat protection, nature center staffing, water ice sales, lightconstruction/carpentry, wayside historical markers, and an update for the birders guide. If youthink you might like to participate in any of these activities, please contact the appropriate projectleader listed on page 5 below.

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/Additional Leadership and Volunteer Opportunities Available

As our activities have grown and evolved, we have created additional opportunities forvolunteers to assume leadership positions in the organization. Specifically, we are looking foradditional leaders in a couple of areas:

Project Coordinator-This person works with the project leaders to help them organizetheir projects. This is also an Executive Committee position, so this person would have anopportunity to influence the future directions of the organization.

Project Leaders-We have openings for a few more project leaders to help organizevolunteers on some of our projects. For example, we are looking for people who would enjoyhelping arrange parts ofour reforestation work once or twice a year, and there are opportunitiesin other areas as well. In any case, we would work with interested persons to find a project areaof personal interest to them.

Volunteers are also currently needed in some of our projects, including trail monitors foradopt-a-trail and persons to help install bluebird boxes. Also, we will again have a display atNewark Community Day on Sunday, September 14. Volunteer to help staff the booth or stop byif you are at the event. (See contact information for project leaders on page 5 below.)Su perintendent's Corner - Nick McFadden

We would like to thank the Friends for their generous donation towards the lunch at ourSeasonal Employee Orientation in June. Everyone enjoyed pizza and sodas after listening to Nickand Art yap about personnel policies, safety, park history, and other topics of interest.

Kathryn Hendrix, WCCSP Americorps staffperson (along with Debbie Davies,Administrative Assistant) organized a picnic in appreciation and recognition of all our seasonalemployees and volunteers. Many members of the Friends attended and were lucky enough towalk offwith quite a few ofthe door prizes. It was a fun time. We hope this will be an annualaffair.

The Adopt-a-Trail volunteers continue to do an excellent job monitoring and maintainingthe over 30 miles of trails in the park. The reports are crucial in helping the park staff and StatePark Trail Crew fix problem areas, quickly.

We've experienced quite a few incidents of dumping, vandalism, theft, and criminalmischiefthis summer. We would like to ask the Friends to report any suspicious persons and/orvehicles they might see when using or working in the park. This can be done by calling theRanger 's dispatcher at 1-800-523-3336. Someone is on duty 24 hours a day. They will contact aWCCSP Ranger, or an "on-call" Ranger, ifnecessary.

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Support Needed for Park ProgramsJudge Morris Program Volunteers are needed to help set up, serve tea or other

beverages and food.Thursday October 16, Private Tea: 12-4 pmSaturday November 15, World War II Story Telling and Wine and Cheese: 1-4 pmDecember 8, 9, 10, 11, Decorating the House for the Holiday ToursDecember 13, 14,20,21, Holiday House Tours

Judge Morris Decorations: Vines and other fresh greenery (pine, spruce, cedar,bittersweet, etc) are needed. Ifyou are clipping trees and vines in your yard keep in mind that weneed an abundance of greenery to decorate the estate for the Holiday Tours. We'll need thegreenery by Monday December 8.

Nature Center Program VolunteersEarth Explorers Program for 6-15 year olds, selected Wednesday and Thursday afternoonsHawk Migration Count, Selected Thursday and Saturday morningsOwl Prowls, Selected Friday eveningsHayrides, Weekend evenings in October

If you would like to help with any of these items, please contact Angel Rosauri at the parkoffice - (302) 369-6560.Wish List

We welcome the donation of items for use in Park activities by the Friends and the Parkstaff We thank our members for past donations of needed items such as easels and shovels.Currently we need tools for trail work, including wheelbarrows, mattocks, flat shovels, rakes,loppers, etc., as well as a metal tool cabinet for storage of these tools. To donate contact WendelCassel (302-737-3319)

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/Calendar of Scheduled Events

August 23 Trail WorkSeptember 8 Executive Committee MeetingSeptember 14 Newark Community Day DisplaySeptember 28 Trail WorkOctober 13 Executive Committee MeetingOctober 26 Trail WorkNovember 10 Executive Committee MeetingNovember 16 Trail WorkDecember 8 Executive Committee MeetingDecember 14 Trail Work

Leadership:

President: Andy Urquhart, 239-2471, [email protected]: Christa Stefanisko, 369-1933, [email protected] and Newsletter Editor: Dick Benson, 410-398-4180, [email protected]: Ken Daws, 737-8120, [email protected] Chair: Lisa Wool, 235-1873, [email protected] Committee Chair: Tom Hallenbeck, 610-274-1345, [email protected]

Current Project Leaders:

Adopt-a-Highway: Dee and Dick Benson, 410-398-4180Ad0 pt-a-Trail: Mike Ott, 738-6652Advocacy: Andy Urquhart, 239-2471Birders Guide: Mark Keese, 369-9128, and Gene Hess, 738-4690Bluebird Boxes: Meta Little, 368-3472, and Marilyn Sweeney, 235-2548Kestrel Boxes: Andy Urquhart, 239-2471Historical Booklet: Debbie Keese, 369-9128Light Construction: Chip Caverly, 292-0255Member-led Park Programs: Angel Rosauri. 658-6560Nature Center Staffing: Tom Hallenbeck, 610-274-1345Newark Community Day: Ken Daws; 737-8120Reforestation: AI Zverina, 239-5046, and Christa Stefanisko, 369-1933Trail Benches: Andy Urquhart, 239-2471Trail Improvement Work: Wendel Cassel, 737-3319Water Ice Sales: Tom Hallenbeck, 610-274-1345Wayside Historical Markers: Wendel CasselWebsite: Rick Hall, 831-1295Wildlife Habitat Protection: Andy Urquhart, 239-2471

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Membership Application

Join us! If you are not already a member and would like to join, please return this form with yourcheck made payable to Friends of White Clay Creek State Park.Name(s)AddressPhone L J _ E-Mail

Annual Memberships__$10.00 Individual Membership__$15.00 Family Membership__$ 5.00 Student Membership__$__Extra Contribution$ Total Enclosed

Friends of White Clay Creek State Park, Inc.P.o. Box 9734, Newark, DE 19714-9734

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august 2003 friends of white clay creek state park newsletter

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