Wednesday, June 6, 2018

Friends of Shimek Receives "Paint Iowa Beautiful" Award



Diamond Vogel Paints and Keep Iowa Beautiful recently announced that 
Friends of Shimek State Forest was awarded 9 gallons of paint for painting picnic tables and other campground structures, including the toilet buildings. These wooden facilities need painting about every two years to increase their life span and improve their appearance. There are four campgrounds at Shimek, all with wooden picnic tables with metal frames, small wooden toilet buildings, and posts for signage and other purposes. The paint was obtained through the Diamond Vogel Paint Store in Burlington, IA which is managed by Nick Wittenmyer.

 Friends of Shimek Board Member Neal Hartman (left) is pictured with Nick Wittenmyer receiving the 9 gallons of paint which was special mixed in the DNR standard green and brown colors. Ringo Covert, Friends of Shimek Board President said: “ The Friends of Shimek extend our appreciation to Diamond Vogel for this help in our on-going efforts to support DNR in maintaining the campgrounds.”


Friends of Shimek volunteers met for their first Group Work Day of 2018 in late May at the Lick Creek Lower Campground. The volunteers are shown above as they prepare to begin the painting project as well as clearing downed trees off trails, sorting cans and bottles and other campground maintenance.


 

The first step in the project was painting the two wooden toilet facilities at the Bitternut Lake campground. The paint was peeling badly and no longer protected the wood from the elements as shown in the photo above.  



Here Volunteers and Friends of Shimek Board Members Marsha Achenbach and Jo Watson are shown just after completing the repainting of those two facilities, which are looking much better.

Painting of the metal legs on picnic tables to prolong their life is next on the Friends of Shimek “Paint Iowa Beautiful” project. With 9 gallons of paint, there will be a lot of "Painting Shimek Beautiful" yet to come.  Volunteers to help paint will be needed at the next FOS Group Work Day on July 11th!