Thanks to Courtney and Beth - Outreach Coordinators at REI for hosting another clean-up on lower Shoal Creek (roughly from 12th to Town Lake Trail) Lots of stuff, but enviro-girl was out there sporting a green wig and a purple cape.  Lots of bags of trash as the picture shows and thanks to REI and their volunteers for continuing to care for lower Shoal Creek Greenbelt! 

Here’s a photo of the Gus Fruh access trail - part of Barton Creek Greenbelt. This trail was resurfaced over two volunteer workdays, on 2/2 and 2/9 by volunteers from Austin Parks Foundation, Greenbelt Guardians, Austin Ridge Riders, Hash House Harriers and the Austin Parks and Recreation Dept. It looks great!

Fresh photos of the first of two Red Bud Isle step entry areas - replacing a big eroded hole in the bank - work done by American Youthworks E-Corps and Austin Parks department, funded by Austin Parks Foundation. More info about the friends of Red Bud Isle here

The Banff Mountain Film Festival and Radical Reels come to Austin at the Paramount Theatre April 5 & 6, hosted by Whole Earth Provision Company. Proceeds benefit Austin Parks Foundation and TreeFolks. More info at wholeearthprovision.com

With rain failing from the sky on this Friday evening, I’m hoping that the volunteer workday out at Turkey Creek Trail @ Emma Long Park doesn’t get rained out, but if it does, at least we’re getting some of the wet stuff. We need it. While I’ve been working out at Gus Fruh Trail @ Barton Creek Greenbelt the last two Saturdays, I can’t help but notice that a general lack of rain in the past few months isn’t a good thing. My fingers are crossed.

In the meantime, I want to recognize all of the volunteers and especially the Central Texas Trail Tamers, who have come out to help us with our Park of the Month workdays beginning in October. We’ve had successful workdays at Pease Park, Brush Square, Country Club Creek Trail, Red Bud Isle, Copperfield Nature Trail and Gus Fruh and Homedale Access Trails on Barton Creek Greenbelt. My thanks to Patrick, Jerry, Kevin, Derly, and Richard!

And of course, a special thanks to all those volunteers hauling rocks, cutting brush, pulling out invasive species and much more. One more Park of the Month Project is coming on March 1st at Norwood Estate and then its the run up to It’s My Park Day on April 12!.

Thanks to Austin Energy, we’re getting some trees planted in two parks as mitigation for Austin Energy projects that resulted in removal of trees close-by. One is Shipe Park, the other is Pease Park. The trees at Shipe have all been planted and here’s a picture of the crew, plus volunteer Jack Nokes and dog Petey.

Our thanks to APF board member and volunteer Jill Nokes as well as Judy Fowler for Austin Energy for making this happen. The project includes irrigation for the trees as well.

Ok, surfacing doesn’t mean going for a winter swim at Gus Fruh pool, since the creek there is dry, it refers to the big effort to resurface much of the access trail from Barton Hills Drive down to the trail and pool area at Gus Fruh. On Saturday, 2/2, we were joined by over 40 volunteers from the Austin Ridge Riders, Hash House Harriers, Hill County Outdoors, Central Texas Trail Tamers and the hosting Greenbelt Guardians to haul, spread and pack down six cubic yards of road base as step one to re-surface the trail. In addition, we had volunteers with saws cutting down and treating the ever present ligustrum along the creek’s main trail and a smaller subset of folks hauling big rocks out of the rock to use for several rock retaining wall projects at Gus Fruh Pool. As the photo shows, wheelbarrows full of roadbase (and breaks for those pushing them) were in force on Saturday.

Next Saturday (2/9/08) we have part two of the effort - granite gravel mixed with a binding polymer will be hauled spread and packed down, along with more invasive species removal, rock work and other tasks. Please join us!

Mayfield Park and Preserve is one of those (out of 206) parks I’ve meaning to explore. I’ve been to events at Mayfield Cottage, but not explored the surrounding preserve. Mayfield is one of the eastern and central preserves are managed by Rene Barrera in the Parks department, a one-man army (if there ever was a one-man army) and a host of volunteers. One of our Friends of Red Bud Isle leaders, Nadene Morning, was telling me of her volunteering out there of late (and the need for footbridge replacements) so I slipped out of the office early on Friday to to check it out.

Mayfield is a wonderful little place, just off West 35th Street and across from a city water treatment plant, it has the cottage, the ponds and gardens (maintained by Friend s of the Parks) and a preserve thick with native trees and lots of non-native ligustrum. Sigh. Another area to work on. Still I was impressed with the sign about natives and invasives at the trail head (see the picture) as well as the beautiful nature of the trails (most in very good shape) and the bridge wash outs looked challenging as well (other picture shows my view from the high side of the trail - its a good 20 feet down.)

I enjoyed my short tour of the trails (I hiked all of the trails in about an hour) and left knowing a little more about another oasis of park land in the heart of Austin

The Central Texas Trail Tamers is hosting free crew leader training sessions - if you regularly lead volunteer workdays or would like to, please consider signing up at trailtamers.org!

Many of you have gone on numerous long-distance projects over the years and have helped on perhaps as many local projects, but have you ever noticed how these crews seem to be led by the same people over and over again? We have about half-a-dozen people, including me, who continually lead crew after crew. We really enjoy doing this, but we’d love to share this exciting part of trail taming with more of you!

Leading a volunteer crew can be fun and rewarding! Come learn more about the details and exciting opportunities by attending one of the following classes that are scheduled on these dates:

1. The first 2-day class session will be held on FEB. 4th & 5th from 6-9pm at Wild Basin Preserve. Snacks & beverages provided. FREE to CTTT members and Austin Parks Foundation members.

2. The second 2-day session will be held on MAR. 4th & 5th at the same location & time period. Snacks & beverages provided. The class is FREE to CTTT & APF members.

Everyone who attends will receive a handy Crew Leader Manual and a Certificate of Completion.

To register online, go to www.trailtamers.org and click on the link for either class session. Class size is limited so register soon!

Happy trails!

Lynda DeGroot
Vice President & Planning Director
Central Texas Trail Tamers

We’re half way into our second of three weeks of tree work on Country Club Creek Trail. Carl and Jose of Natural Texas have removed lots of invasive trees, including Chinaberry trees and old hackberries that were so rotten that they were held up by green briar vines alone! I’m spending a few hours every few days picking up trash - lots of old dumps and homeless camps. I’ve found the most extensive collection of bottles and cans and plastic bags ever! Work will be continuing through next week, but the area is looking great so far. More photos on our flickr page