–by Adam Polinski
Four volunteer work sessions held by the Coopers Rock Foundation over three weeks of Spring, 2019, resulted in almost 240 Hours of volunteer work performed at the State Forest. The projects focused on some high-use areas and trails:
*Along Roadside Trail, the volunteers cleaned out drainage features with rakes and other tools.
* In the Overlook Picnic Area they planted tree saplings and cleaned up woody debris that had resulted from an earlier removal of some dead trees.
*The start of the Reservoir Loop Trail also benefitted from the efforts of volunteers, who installed a new 8’ trail bridge.
As CRF’s annual Spring Volunteer Weekend of April 13th and 14th began on Saturday morning, a trail crew assembled in the Day Use Parking Lot and focused on one of the most heavily-used segments of any trail at Coopers Rock – the first quarter mile of Roadside Trail. Dips, water bars, drainage ditches and culverts, which intercept and divert water off-trail, were all raked out, and in some cases, shoveled clear and reshaped. Drainage features were also cleared out along the uppermost 500’ of Advanced Ski Trail, just below the Henry Clay Road. Later in the day, the crew worked on a few sites in need of improved drainage along Scott Run Trail.
A cross-section of WVU students pitched in, as well as representatives from the West Virgina Master Naturalists, the WVU Climbing Club, the Sierra Club, and Scout Troop 183. The scouts were among the most cheerful of volunteers ever to clean out a drainage ditch alongside a trail at Coopers Rock State Forest. And a little-known fact: The WVU Climbing Club has been more involved in these fourteen tree-plantings since April 2012 than any other group to work with CRF. 62 Hours of work were done that day, 52 by volunteers and 10 volunteered by CRF.
The following day, CRF and volunteers conducted the fourteenth planting of tree saplings within the Overlook Picnic Area, a reforesting project begun by CRF in April, 2012. 16 trees were planted, with some replacing dead saplings and others adding to the project total, which is around 200 trees throughout the picnic area. Maintenance of fencing, posts, and tree tubes was also conducted. Volunteers that day represented the WVU Climbing Club, Mon River Trails Conservancy, and Fairmont State University, along with the Coopers Rock Foundation. 16 Hours of work got done, with 9.5 by volunteers and 6.5 volunteered by CRF
Later in April, on the morning of the 27th, during CRF’s annual 50K / 13.1 trail-running race, CRF hosted 20 members of WVU’s Swimming & Diving Team, as part of WVU Athlete’s Day Of Service, in the Overlook Picnic Area. A number of dead or dying “hazard trees” have recently been removed from among the picnic tables, and that activity left a lot of woody debris scattered around this area. Primarily by hand, but also by using rakes and buckets, the student athletes gathered up huge amounts of branches, limbs, bark, and wood chunks that were spread throughout the area from recent cutting. People power ruled the hour, as this team swarmed the area, picked it clean, and stacked all the collected wood in three roadside piles. The piles of wood scraps will soon be loaded into a truck and unloaded at the DNR’s brush piles downhill from the Overlook Picnic Area. 43 Hours of volunteer work were performed, 40 by the athletes and 3 by CRF.
On Wednesday, May 1st, CRF hosted a group of 25 strong, gathered and sent to Coopers Rock by the organizers of the United Way Day Of Caring. This huge crew began work at the terminus of Roadside Trail, just 20’ across the road from the historic, CCC-constructed, stone walkway out to The Overlook. In a span of three hours, this group raked, shoveled, and mattocked its way two miles along Roadside Trail, to the segment of Roadside Trail right behind Reservoir Parking Lot. In its wake, every single dip, water bar, drainage ditch, and culvert was cleared of all leaves, branches, and muck.
This group was notable in that several individuals spotted morel mushrooms alongside the trail while we worked. 7 were collected, and they supplemented one volunteer’s supper later that night. Several of us learned, that when harvesting morels, “pinch ‘em, don’t yank ‘em”, so that the roots will remain in the soil post-harvest and encourage future morel proliferation.
One more project awaited this troop– the placement of an already-built 8’ trail bridge at the start of the .4 mile Reservoir Loop Trail. 75’ of drainage ditch was re-dug in minutes, water flowing along the service road was diverted away from the loop entrance, and various other tasks were conducted in a flurry of activity, highlighted by the placing and leveling of the bridge over the drainage ditch. Completing that bridge placement was the finale’ of the day, and we all then walked back up to the Reservoir Parking Lot and caught a pre-arranged shuttle back to our starting point at the Overlook Parking Lot. 25 volunteers from Mylan Pharmaceuticals, WVU Medicine, and United Bank worked 4.5 hours each, for a total of 112.5 hours, and CRF volunteered 6 more, or a grand total of 118.5 Service Hours on May 1st.
Thanks to all our volunteers, and the 239.5 Total Hours they worked, some Coopers Rock trails are in better shape than they were as Spring began, and a few more trees are now established in the traditionally shady Overlook Picnic Area.
