This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Community Corner

Volunteers Help Blaze New Trail at Wingfield Pines

A hot afternoon in the sun, pulling weeds, pruning trees and raking up dried grass…is that your idea of a fun August afternoon?

A hot afternoon in the sun, pulling weeds, pruning trees and raking up dried grass. Is that your idea of a fun August afternoon? For many, the answer would be no, but fortunately for Wingfield Pines nature area it was a definite yes from a dozen volunteers this past Sunday.

Max Vietmeier, with his internship with the Allegheny Land Trust winding down for the summer, planned the event as the final push at Wingfield Pines for the season. 

Vietmeier’s internship centered on further developing the trails in the former strip mine/golf course area that includes a passive mine water reclamation system, established trails and a wetlands area crossed by a boardwalk.

Find out what's happening in Dormont-Brooklinewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Sunday’s objective was to develop trails on the far side of the property heading towards a series of ponds and then across to Chartiers Creek forming a connection with the established segment coming from the wetland area. Vietmeier figured the group would work on the roughly 200 yards needed to connect the trail system.

“I went through here a couple of days ago with the weed wacker because it’s so overgrown and so we stay consistent on the direction we’re taking the trail,” Vietmeier said.

Find out what's happening in Dormont-Brooklinewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

It is not only the grass the volunteers needed to attack as the area has numerous invasive plants such as the purple loosestrife and tightly woven groundcover that makes it difficult to traverse.

“To prepare a trail, the number one thing you need to do is remove all debris from the trail’s path whether it be grass or branches or small sapling trees so people can walk the trail to begin with,” Vietmeier said. “Then you need to turn over or expose the dirt so people know this is the path they should be walking.”

Then the number one thing for maintaining the trails is to have people walk the trail so there is no return growth. 

One alternative would be to use wood chips to help keep the trail clear. But Vietmeier pointed out that is not always a realistic solution. In the case of Wingfield Pines it would difficult to access the area and the cost factor would be considerable.

On the otherhand, having folks walk the trail is both free and efficient, benefiting both trail and walker.

Walking along feeling a bit guilty about not having a rake in my hand I came upon Mary Bates of McCandless as she was working away at some stubborn groundcover along the trail.

“I like the acid mine drainage area and have been here before when it was a flood plain and it just seemed so peaceful down here,” Bates said. “I have built trails in other places, North Park and a long time ago with something called Volunteers for Outdoors Allegheny.”

Bates went back to her task, cutting away at the carpet of green ground cover with a pair of what she called “giant scissors.” Seems once the stuff is cut it takes quite a while for it to grow back.

Wandering a bit further down the trail I ran into (and almost tripped over) another volunteer sitting on the ground pulling, digging and yanking away at the grass in his way.

Wingfield Pines regular Brad Allen comes from Dormont to give his dog a chance to run while he enjoys a relaxing walk. As it stands now, dogs are allowed to run freely as long as their owners clean up any little piles they may leave behind.

“A friend of mine works at the across the street and said there was something over here,” Allen said, indicating his friend had no idea what the area was for but figured he might be interested.

After a few visits and loving what he found, Allen was quick to tell his friend, “Don’t tell anyone else.”

Raking in advance of Allen’s path was M. J. Baumgart. This was her first adventure in trail-making and she had come along with a friend from the South Side. That she only had three hours of sleep the night before didn’t seem to diminish her enthusiasm as she gathered clumps of dead grass with her rake and dumped it away from the trail.

A bit further down the path I ran into Carnegie Mellon student David Oates of Ontario, Canada, who had taken a bus from Shadyside to help build the trail. Like so many others in the group he found out about the trail building on PittsburghCares.org.

“Feel like I’m making progress, it’s satisfying,” Oates said. “Every time I pick this thing up there’s a big bunch of grass and invasives.”

That he had no idea what tool to use was interesting coming from an engineer. But no matter, Oates’ progress was there to be seen in the brown strip crossing through the tall grass.

“I figured it was hot weather here or in my second floor apartment,” Oates said with a philosophical shrug of a person working hard in the afternoon sun.

Venturing into taller grass I came upon seven-year-old Cameron Raubaugh, of South Fayette, almost hidden among the green. With a pair of pruners at the ready, he was making serious work of clearing away and pruning down some of the young saplings along the path.  He and his sister, Meredith, 8, were there with their mom, Cynthia Raubaugh, and older sister, Maddi, 16.

“We found out about the trail event on PittsburghCares.org. Each weekend we pick something to do, spending time together,” Raubaugh said.

It gives her a chance to be with her children while doing something that gives back, it’s outside and they have a great time.

Walking back to the parking lot still feeling a bit guilty for not picking up a shove I ran into Emily Cooper, stewardship coordinator for the Allegheny Land Trust. With almost three quarters to a mile of trail completed so far, I asked what would come next for Wingfield Pines.

“Eventually we would like to get a map and GPS it and know the exact distances and put lots of trail markers and tell people if they go this far it would be this long and make some shorter loops too,” Cooper said.

Since many of the activities at the reserve revolve around the intern, this was the final event for the season for Wingfield Pines. There will be other events at Sycamore Island, located in the Allegheny River near Blawnox, PA., later this summer or into the fall.

“Wingfireld Pines will be our base for majority of our work for the next two years as we’ll have somebody based here,” said Cooper.

That means , volunteer events and for the reserve.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?