Hi Folks,
I wanted to up date you all on the latest regarding next week's Potomac State Forest Event.
There has been some minor agenda changes.....sort of. Please read carefully, as there are some important pieces to this. Okay, first, the trip is still on, for sure.
#1, Hurricane Sandy hit Garrett County as a very heavy wet snow. At like "mid elevations" the snow stuck to the foliage on the trees, bringing many down trees and busting limbs out of many trees. The DNR is still not finished with the clean up. The trails (roads) we drive on are not maintained and are only addressed by us.
Given this situation, we will not be doing a typical volunteer work detail in the morning. We will probably have enough to do to get through some of our roads. Not all, though.
#2. If you have tree cutting equipment, including loppers, please bring them. Bow saws, chain saws, etc, would be helpful. NOW, PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING.
Due to the nature of how these trees were brought down, many of them essentially have a powerful, but invisible charge built up in them.
It is the same principle as when you would wind up the little rubber band to make the propeller spin to fly the plane. If you were to wind that rubber band up real tight and then hold the prop. Then take a sharp knife to a piece of the rubber band and then watch that rubber band fly. It sort of blows up. The trees do the same thing, but on a much larger scale.
SO, PLEASE BRING ALONG AND USE YOUR SAFETY EQUIPMENT. I just ordered my own set of safety chaps. There are several sites online that carry chain saw safety equipment, even Amazon.com.
#3. July was an unusually wet July. So, we will have to use some real judgment on whether to wheel on certain roads. The good news is, for the most part, the area that we are in has a rather thin soil and firms up rather quickly and it is suppose to be fairly dry next week. Well, we will see. Sometimes we just change the order as to what trials we drive on. Regardless, I can not imagine we would be shut down.
#4. I want to remind you, that the nights can be chilly there. Honest!
Other than that, it will still be an awesome time. I want to remind you all that many of the roads that we will be driving on are normally closed. So, do not feel you will be able to come up on your own and wheel on these same roads. Tread Lightly! is very critical to our future on this forest. Everyone will be airing down. Trust me. You will want to, as well.
Pam and I will be heading up bright and early on Tuesday morning, as this is our vacation. So, if you have any questions, please forward them to me ASAP. I will be meeting with another State Forest Manager on Wednesday to see about restarting an event or two on the Savage River State Forest. We may have plenty to talk about around the campfire. Keep your fingers crossed.
We look forward to seeing you there. It will be an awesome time.
Preston
