May 12, 2011

The New Drain Is In!

This past Monday there was major work done at the washout site between Belmont and Rockford.

The crew from Kent County Road Commission did a great job of installing the new drain that will hopefully prevent another washout such as we had last Memorial Day.

Prior to the digging up of the trail the crew made an alternate path so the trail remained open during this major work.

The crew also did some ditch re-establishment in the area. I am continuing to do ditch cleaning also so we will not have water running over the trail after rains.

There is an area of no pavement where the new drain was installed - please be careful when crossing this spot - it is marked with orange cones!

Repairs of paving in the area are in the works and should be done soon!

Thanks to all of you that passed through the work area and were so very tolerant of the bypass.

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Water Damage Up North - - Update

In the north area in the newly paved area there has been a wash-out due to beavers and a culvert failure.

Plans are to fix this next week along with some other issues in the area.

Please be carefull in workareas!

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This Saturday

May 14th, 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.:

We’re “Pulling Together For Nature”

If you’re on the Fred Meijer White Pine Trail this Saturday, May 14, between 10 and 12:00, you’ll see groups of people scattered along the trail, stuffing green plants into bright blue bags. These folks are part of the “Pulling Together For Nature” event in West Michigan that is targeting the invasive weed, garlic mustard. Unfortunately; there is LOTS of garlic mustard along the trail, and there’s plenty for everyone to pull!

If you don’t know what garlic mustard is, or what it looks like, please, stop and find out. And, if you’d like to help out for a minute or an hour, we would love to have you join us! See you along the trail.

Join us as we "Pull Together" for the Garlic Mustard Challenge to remove this and other invasive plants along the White Pine Trail. We will have check-in stations at the sites listed below. Come to the station nearest you, collect some bags and join in the fun! Long pants, boots and gloves are recommended. We will count and register our bags with the Stewardship Network after the pull. Hope to see you there!

Check in Stations:

· Belmont Rd. - Parking lot by the WPT

· House Street and WPT – parking on road by the trail.

· Rockford Farm Market Parking lot

(behind Chase Bank and Young Insurance)

· 12 Mile Rd. – parking lot at intersection of 12 Mile and WPT.

For more information e-mail

Gretchen Zuiderveen - - prairieplanter@gmail.com

Mindy Miner - - 3mminer@gmail.com