Friends Begin Clean-up of Fieldale Trail

The “Friends of the Fieldale Trail” took to the trail on Sunday March 7, 2010 to begin the clean-up work of removing debris and repairing damage from the December flood events.
The Fieldale Trail sustained some damage due to high water which caused  mud deposition in low lying areas, debris accumulation and some split rail fence just plain disappearing downstream!

The heavy snowfall of the last two months has kept the trail blanketed and wet so repair work had to be postponed.  The high water brought all manner of debris to the trial from sticks, lumber, plastic and assorted trash and lots of mud.

The recent warming trend has melted the snow and allowed the mud deposited by the floods to dry out a bit and so the trail can now be accessed for some initial clean-up work.  Saturday and Sunday saw large crowds of people out on the trail, desperate for some outdoor activity after all this cold weather which has created an almost permanent state of cabin fever in our region.  Walkers, bikers, and fisherman were out in force on this Henry County favorite all weekend.

The Friends of the Fieldale Trail Group (FFT ) had an impromptu Sunday clean-up and ended up removing a truck load of trash, approx. 12 bags and numerous other articles from the trail and along the river bank. They removed limbs and sticks; and gathered some fencing into piles. A big thank you to Tracy Kennett for gathering most of the fencing that had been strewn along the trail.  They also reinstalled fencing along parts of the trail.

The group worked on the blue bird houses to prepping them for the blue birds which will start nesting late March to early April.  While on the trail, the group got a chance to engage in other hikers out enjoying the day and had some nice comments from people thanking them for all  they do to help maintain the trail.
They also had several people provide them with phone numbers to call for volunteers when they have the next work day

 Front row, left to right - Nancy Kennett and Molly the lab
Back row from left to right: Tracy Kennett, Tommy Wyatt, Cecil Holt, Joan Ragland, Frances Holt, Paula Wyatt

A big huge thank you to all Adopt-a-Trail Volunteers and special thank you to the
Friends of the Fieldale Trail, you guys rock !