TrailMail

   over 760,000 trail visits last year!
www.littlemiamistatepark.org
October 2015 
In This Issue
Kings H.S. Service Day
Volunteer Needs: Bring Back the Trees!
Ernst Concrete Cares
Prince of Peace Volunteer Day
What Have YOU Found?
Monarch Way Station
Native Clones
New Bike Service Station
Trail Safety: worth the work   
BEFORE
AFTER
This New Burlington trail intersection is safer after a tough group of 9 FLMSP volunteers cleared brush and removed some fencing to improve visibility. The crew attacked the hazards with chain saws, pole saws, ropes, Kombi trimmers and lots of manpower on September 30.Thanks, guys, for your dedication to trail safety!

Kings High School Senior Service Day

Each year on September 11, Kings High School seniors give back to the community in various kinds of service. This hardworking group of teens worked several hours clearing brush along the trail near Loveland under the supervision of FLMSP trail adopters Dave Diersing and Mike Egan. The group took a break with a pizza and chocolate chip cookie lunch at Nisbet Park (above). Thank you, Kings seniors!


Bring Back the Trees!

About one of every 10 trees in Ohio is an ash, and most are dead or dying due to the Emerald Ash Borer infestation. Along with many others, the Friends are concerned about the health of our woodland ecosystems and want to see native trees grow up to replace the ashes and the invasive honeysuckle that has been removed. Now we're doing something about it, and we can use your help.
Rick Forrester, our FLMSP board member addressing reforestation along our trail, has been nurturing almost 180 baby trees of various species in his home garden. These trees, all Ohio natives, were purchased by FLMSP as bare root seedlings from Soil and Water Conservation Districts last spring and planted in pots and buckets. Soon the trees will go dormant for the winter, so it's time to plant!

Rick's reforestation committee is determining best placement of the trees with guidance from experts on root spread and water and light needs of each species. Now they need volunteers to help plant the trees.

Planting will be done on weekends, probably starting Oct. 24 or Nov. 1, depending on the weather. If you'd like to help, please send an email with your contact information to [email protected].

Ongoing Volunteer Needs
  • Help with regular maintenance on a trail section near you
  • Tow the FLMSP blower to clear the trail of leaves and debris  
  • Publicize FLMSP at community events; we'll provide materials
  • Help manage trail counters and their data files
To respond to these needs or learn about other needs, please visit our Volunteer webpage.

Ernst Concrete Cares

Have you noticed the change north of Milford? Ernst Concrete, next to the trail at Camp Dennison, has greatly improved the view from the trail by seeding and building a low wall of decorative blocks to diminish the factory's effect on the natural beauty of the trail. 

Plant manager Jason Yarbrough and his company continue to improve this area for the benefit of trail users and the community. Thank you, Jason and Ernst Concrete!

 
Prince of Peace Volunteer Day
I t took this hard-working team just 90 minutes to clean 1/3 of a mile of two fence lines front and back, using 3 Kombis with chain saw blades, loppers and hand saws.

Volunteers from Prince of Peace Lutheran Church meet annually on the trail with FLMSP volunteers Don & Judy Mills in memory of Paul Leiter, one of our former segment adopters.

Many thanks from all the trail users and FLMSP!




Friends of the Little Miami State Park is a nonprofit organization devoted to the preservation and enhancement of the Little Miami State Park. We assist the Ohio Department of Natural Resources with development planning, capital improvements, and safety concerns, as well as providing most of the maintenance of the park. 
 
Trail Hotline


 513-212-6958

[email protected]

 

Report downed trees or other non-emergency safety issues. A text message or email with photos is most helpful!

 

 
Trail Closings & Alerts
  Peters Cartridge Factory
Soil Remediation
The Little Miami Trail will be closed intermittently on weekdays near Grandin Road (mile marker 35.0 - 35.5) through the end of October. Work activities related to the Peters Cartridge Factory site soil remediation project will necessitate closures on certain days between 7:00 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. The trail will be open all evenings and weekends. The trail parking lot at Grandin Rd. remains closed through October 14. Please call the 24/7 hotline for Peters trail closures for ongoing daily updated information: 
513-552-7030. 

Devil's Staircase Hill Climb

This Sunday, Oct. 11, the annual Devil's Staircase Hill Climb may impact trail users in the northern section of the Trail. The event attracts thousands of people, and many camp out in a designated field nearby. To access the event from the camp site, cars must cross our trail. Please use caution and expect traffic and congestion on this section of the trail on Sunday.

What Have YOU Found?
Our volunteers often find relics of our trail's past hiding in the brush while working. Have you found an old bottle, a railroad spike like this one, or some other interesting artifact? Let us know by sending an email and photo to [email protected]. We'll share your discoveries in a future issue. 

Monarch Way Station


Dirk Morgan, a FLMSP volunteer warrior in the Oregonia section of our trail, recently sponsored a Monarch Way Station project at his Morgans Riverside Campground. He hopes small plots like this one along the river and the trail will welcome Monarch butterflies and help them reverse their huge population decline in recent years.

Guided by Three Valley Conservation Trust and Monarch Watch and planted by community service students from Gamble Montessori, the Morgans way station offers a variety of perennials that attract important pollinators, as well as milkweed that serves as the Monarch caterpillar's sole source of food.

If you'd be interested in helping construct a possible future way station near the trail, please send your contact information t o

Native Clones

It's the largest edible fruit native to North America, it's delicious, but most of us can't identify it and have never tasted it.

Thomas Jefferson grew pawpaws at Monticello, even shipping some seeds to France to wow the Europeans with the American fruit. Pawpaws nourished Lewis and Clark in 1806 when their provisions ran low, native Americans spread its seeds--and our own Rick Forrester found a grove along the trail near Cones Road, Loveland.

Pawpaw trees grow 12 to 20 feet high, sending out suckers a few feet from the trunk. These suckers grow into new pawpaw trees, each a clone of the original. That's why they're often found in groves rather than as single specimens. The pawpaw's native habitat is temperate woodlands of the eastern U.S.

The pawpaw's green fruit is soft and often splotchy when ripe in late summer and early fall. The yellow flesh has a custard consistency and is very nutritious. Inside are 10 to 14 dark seeds in two rows. Its flavor is tropical, like a cross between a mango and a banana. There is very little commercial production of the fruit, so learn to recognize pawpaws in the wild, as Rick has.

Quick Links


 
     
  
Events
    
Oct. 24, 6:30 p.m. 
S ixth annual Halloween block party from the creators of the Amazing Charity Race. Your 4-person team will enjoy food, beer and a live band while investigating a murder mystery in historic Milford!   Register


New Bike Service Station
The City of Loveland has installed a new Dero Bicycle Service Station at Nisbet Park, thanks to the generosity of the Wyoming Ohio Cycling Foundation (WOCF). The service station includes an attached tool kit, air pump and bike mount, providing support for a variety of repairs. Thousands of cyclists on our trail thank WOCF and the C ity
of Loveland for their promotion of safe cycling.

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