Update on Group Work Day, May 22, 2013

FOS Work Day - Clearing the Trails

By 8:30 Wednesday morning, seventeen volunteers under the leadership of Ringo Covert, Work Day Coordinator, were meeting with Forester John Byrd to form teams and divvy up the 27 miles of trails for clearing. The winter had left lots of fallen limbs and trees on the trails. Four teams were on the trails with chain-saws, 4-wheelers, loppers or weedeaters. They were: Doug and Bonnie Moothart with Roger and Gail Simmering; Neal Hartman, Bob Bender and Don Harris; Lora Conrad, Marsha and Bob Achenbach and John Byrd; Pat &Tom Pollpeter, Ringo Covert and Craig Sink. Art & Judy Duke and Ann Bennett installed hand sanitizers in all the Shimek Campgrounds and put up Pack it in-Pack it Out signs. After we returned to camp, several people picked up trash from the fire pits around the lower campground. A few cans that inconsiderate drinkers had already tossed by the trails were also picked up.

Most people brought redeemable cans and bottles (both plastic and glass) to load into Ann's trailer for the Recycling Fund-Raiser. Ann reported that $65 was made for FOS and all those items recycled rather than trashed.

The day concluded with a brown-bag lunch and reporting back to Ringo and John on the work accomplished. Then, Neal and Bob Bender returned to the trails and worked until 3:30.

With 17 volunteers and over 105 hours of work done—Forester John Byrd wrote:

The nuts and bolts to the whole day was that we are starting to grow in numbers.  I was pleasantly surprised at how many people we had yesterday.  I was also impressed by those folks who took the day off to come help, that is dedication!  WE ARE MAKING A DIFFERENCE!  That isn’t correct, sorry.  WE ARE MAKING A HUGE DIFFERENCE!  I thank you all and I thank those people who we don’t see very often but spread positive messages behind the scenes.  Thank You.

 FOS President Ann Bennett wrote:
What a beautiful work day with sunshine and cool temps and a great turnout!  Thank you Ringo and John for coordinating the volunteers! Thank all who brought aluminum/plastic/glass for the nickel redemption to the work day, $65 worth.

The day in photos.....

Ringo signing in Bob, Neal and Don before they hit the trails.



John Byrd makes team work assignments -- note our Friends of Shimek Safety vests!

John explains the hand sanitizers to Judy, Ann and Art.

Tom and Pat load up to hit the trails



John Byrd saws a log as Bob Achenbach drags off a section.

Ringo and Craig and 4-wheeler head off to work with their trailer, weed-eater and chain saw

 

Bonnie Moothart made this photo of Doug--properly attired with helmet, gloves, glasses and safety vest --hard at work with his chainsaw on the trails.

Ann--glad she brought the trailer to carry all the bags of cans and bottles!

By noon, all were ready for lunch and most of the trails had been cleared. 

 

Thanks to Wal-Mart in Burlington

Ringo Covert contacted Walmart in Burlington and applied for a gift card under their program to assist non-profits. Wal-Mart gave FOS a $30 gift certificate which will be used for supplies on our work days.

Thanks to Dave & Dianne Lacina

FOS expresses their appreciation to Dave & Dianne Lacina for the donation of an almost new walk-behind mower. The walk behind mower will be used to help clear trails. It will be stored at the Shimek State Forest Headquarters Maintenance Building for future use.

Thanks for getting the Word out about the Work Day...

to Lala O'Hara who put the information in the Farm Bureau Newsletter that goes to 17 counties,

to the Horse & Hound Country Store in Burlington that posted it on Facebook,

to the Leader-Record Newspaper that published an article and photos about the work plans,

to the Van Buren Register that published an article and photos about the work day plans,

to DNR for posting our scheduled work days at http://www.iowadnr.gov/InsideDNR/VolunteerOpportunities.aspx

to Iowa Horse Council for posting our scheduled work days athttp://iowahorsecouncil.org/iowa-horse-trails/

to the Iowa Trail Riders Association for posting our work days in their Newsletter calendar

and to anyone else that helped get out the message!