MAFWDA has made arrangements with the Forest Manager of Green Ridge State Forest in Flintstone, Maryland to participate in a volunteer weekend. This will be a camp and work project with those camping arriving the afternoon of Friday May 20th, volunteer work Saturday May 21st, and departing on Sunday. I have established a great professional relationship with the Forest Manager over the years. I lead several volunteer weekends at Green Ridge when I was a member of CORE. There are no actual off road trails located on the forest, those we had were closed 4 or so years ago. There are some roads that are not regularly maintained by the forest service and can be a little rough; stock rigs should be okay on most if not all roads. When the volunteer work is done I can lead a tour of the forest and travel some of the rougher roads and possible creek crossings. There are several overlooks with great views of the surrounding area and the Potomac River down in the valley.
A primitive group camp site (G-1) has been reserved for us for the weekend that will accommodate no more than 20 people. This site will not accommodate large RVs but travel trailers and pop-up camper may fit. The site has no pavilion so I recommend if you have a canopy please bring it along. I am working with forest personnel to have a porta-john placed on site. If that doesn’t work out then your bathroom will be where the rest of the animals relieve themselves. The proposed work continues to establish and enhance riparian buffers along Town Creek with a tree planting project. Non invasive tree and shrub species will be planted to establish forest buffers and enhance wildlife habitat. The recently acquired Slider Tract includes agricultural fields along Town Creek. MAFWDA and CORE volunteers are well known by forest personnel for their tree planting expertise.
At this particular time I am collecting names of those who wish to participate and volunteer. I need the number of volunteers so I can provide the information to the Forest Manager so he can finalize the work plan. I hope to get about 10 – 15 volunteers. When we have that done I will send out an email with the details to the participants only, this email is only a call for volunteers. If you can only participate on Saturday that is fine also.
If you will be participating please reply back to me at ltpope@comcast.net not later than March 20th. List your percentage of probability that you will be participating when you reply back to me. List also if you will be camping the weekend or just participating on Saturday.
This is a family oriented weekend event so bring the brood with you. There is a fishing pond next to the camp site that has trout, bass, and pan fish to be caught. Maryland State Fishing Regulations apply to all who wish to fish.