Enjoy The Warm Autumn Days Outside While You Can!

Autumn is upon us and very soon time will change giving us those shorter days and nights that seem to last forever!  

So, before the cold, rainy and shortened days arrive don't forget to get out with the family and stretch those legs and  enjoy the mild weather while you can.  

Photo/ BW

Activities are unlimited almost in Cypress Park.  If you don't like to fish walk the Nature Trail located in the back of the park. The Nature Trail, just recently completed,  now ventures all the way to Stevenson's Pond. 

Photo/ BW

Stop for a visit at the  Olive Lippoldt Memorial Tidal Garden.  A footbridge, erected by a group of volunteer Sailors from the Wallops Island Station makes it an excellent area to view plant life and marine life. The plaques around the garden will provide you will all the information you need.  

Photo/ BW
Olive Lippoldt Memorial Tidal Garden 

Pack a picnic lunch and have a picnic  on one of the brand new handmade picnic tables!   Nathan Stephens a local Boy Scout from Troop 0311 is responsible for building  the tables  in order to achieve his Eagle Scout status.

Photo/ BW

You'll also find tennis courts and a playground for the younger ones.  There's plenty of room to run......  And it's all free.

Better hurry.  The nice weather won't last forever!

Nature Trail UPDATE ~ Moving Right Along With Lots To See and Still Do!

NATURE TRAIL UPDATE

By Richie Schoemaker MD, project chairman

Posted Tuesday, May 14th 2013


Construction:
Looking back from where we are now, I can’t believe we only got started 2 weeks ago. Now we are ready to start building (come help us on 5/15 and beyond). The massive transport job led by foreman Andy Clarke is just about done. The 38 “second floor” racks are now waiting on the island (as yet unnamed; how about “Broken Back Island”?) near their final resting place in the final stretch of impenetrable swamp. Granted it took two sessions of 90 minutes each to load the 150 pound racks in groups of 10 onto Andy’s long trailer, transport them from the City Public Works lot to the building site, slide each rack down the hill and through the woods, over the bridges and into place. It took four people to load each rack; two to unload and move to the forest and four to haul into the swamp staging area.


Prothonotary Warbler - Male

We had some familiar faces sweating with the loads: Larry Fykes, Rob Clarke (right in there full bore!), Andy Clarke, Michael Redden and a newbie, Josh Weichman. Our first truck load took 58 minutes and the second 39 minutes. The next session was Andy, Larry, Rob, Scott Tatterson, some physician part time, and from the cadet corps came Kalie and Luke Speta. With all that crew, Larry suggested that they move some planks that we need to use as joists as well. And so they did.

Meanwhile, the Town Public Works crew has moved the hundreds of 4 foot treads that Chris Miles cut (for free, thanks Chris!) for us. Only 600 more to go (well, maybe a few more). We are ready for the machine-like assembly line in the swamps! But, one small item remains. What path does the Trail actually follow to get to its final end point? Into the swamp go Andy and Larry, with music from African Queen and Heart of Darkness quietly playing in the stream of consciousness. They make it back alive. Larry’s hip waders didn’t drag him down into the suction of the organic floor of the wooded wetlands (don’t laugh, that happens).

So now we are so close to finishing. Larry wants to jump start our deep water sections, the most difficult, which as one might expect are the first. Yet, our plan is still to push the work over Memorial Day weekend, beginning on Saturday at 9 AM. Volunteers will assemble at the Greenway parking area for the Trail entrance by the golf course and walk around Stevenson’s Pond to the work site adjacent to the northbound Route 13 Bridge. You will see and hear us. Bring your own tick repellent spray, water and work gloves. We will work for 3 good hours and see what we have.

Great Crested Flycatcher

Donations:We are so thankful for the support we have received so far. Many people have called asking about how to contribute. Checks are welcome, payable to CRBAI or the Pocomoke Nature Trail; mail them to Nature Trail, 500 Market St Suite 103, Pocomoke, Md 21851.


T-shirts are going out (as soon as they are done!) to Anne Hughes, Al Correia, Debbie Waidner, CD Hall and Nancy Newsome for their donations for a Foot of the Trail. Major donors are Dr. Tom and Dorothea Harblin and Dr. Scott McMahon who will each sponsor an observation station. Our biggest booster to date is Circuit Court Judge Richard Bloxom who is a Silver Sponsor and supporter of an observation station.

Why volunteer to do this much work?As I stood as quietly as I could last week on the island, I could hear the pileated woodpeckers and summer tanagers calling. Prothonotary warblers were all around. See them and hear them. There was a black and white warbler close to the trunk of the sycamore tree. The great crested flycatchers (AKA weep-weep birds) were definitely annoyed that I was in their space. I heard a new bird call, one almost like a warbler’s phrasing, but no, this was a vireo. We have lots of vireos in our swamps, but this one…

My hearing is getting bad, so I can’t rely on the sound any more. There it is, I can see it just overhead. It was a solitary vireo (and was by itself too), one that I personally have never seen around here. Where is naturalist John Dennis when I need him?

Pileated Woodpecker

I saw a blue-lined skink and found scat of a fox newly deposited on the top of the new bridge abutment. The lizard and fox couldn’t resist checking out our new trail. Neither can I. As the evening started to arrive with fading light, softening of the wind in the cypress and a few buzz, buzzing bugs around my ears, I could see schools of surface feeders breaking the calm of the slack waters between the tides. Solace, indeed.

And yet, what was that? Not a log; that was a head! An otter! Oh my, I haven’t seen otters here for twenty years! I waited, hoping if I held my breath that it would come my way but it swam to shore out of sight up by the magnificent cypress that will be our final destination of this loop.

Otters, birds, fish, and quiet magnificence of our Trail: all this wonder leads to some important questions. What really matters when people are slaughtered in Mother’s Day parade and stories of unspeakable horror fills our newspaper? Are we really better off to seal away human populations from use of our wooded wetlands as a place for solace, learning and recreation? Or are we better off teaching our visitors what splendor we have by letting them see it from our protected boardwalks and observation platforms. I have consistently voted to open access of our forests and swamps to school kids and visitors understanding that a few visitors will attack our signs and some others will toss cans and paper onto the forest floor. Not all people are good hearted.

For every knucklehead who trashes a part of our Trail, there are hundreds and hundreds of others who will value seeing an otter slide or an osprey soar or a calico bass ripple a still surface. Will seeing an elusive vireo (after first identifying its call) impact an eighth grader’s view of nature and the world? Will that attention to detail be the springboard for a new answer to approaching the complex problems of a global world? Can we just try?

Blue Lined Skink

I am not suggesting that studying lizard habitat or understanding where mammals hide under the snows in southern places like Pocomoke will help save the world, but as long as we have youngsters like Hunter Tatterson, Kalie and Luke Speta, and Josh Weichman who are willing to give back to a community like Pocomoke, almost before they are old enough to have taken from the community, then I am optimistic that all the efforts of old guys like Don and Jim and me, like Jack Spurling years ago, are based on an idea that won’t die as we will. We have a duty to teach, to share and to provide for those who will follow and improve upon our attempts to make this a better place to live, to work and to raise the next generation. We can’t ask our schools to take on extra burdens when we can combine our love of nature and our willingness to do the hard work to share with others in hopes that our survivors will see what we see now.

So, you can understand why I feel that building the last loop of the Trail means a lot symbolically. Please give generously of your time and what donations you can to help us make the Pocomoke Nature Trail better.

And don’t forget to pick up a couple of the famous Birds of the Pocomoke River t-shirts! And the bumper stickers too. Call us at 410-957-1550 or at the Chamber of Commerce at 410-957-1919.

Years ago (1980), Mayor Dawson Clarke told me that once I had some Pocomoke River mud under my toenails that I would stick around. The world has changed since then but the same river mud that helped shape my career to focus on environmental health issues might just be important for some one else.

Please help our Trail committee make that opportunity grow.

 Download the Pocomoke City Nature Trail Donation Form


Many thanks,

Ritch Shoemaker MD
Trail Committee, Chairman

Pocomoke Nature Trail Tentative Construction Dates - Volunteers Needed

THANK YOU TO CHRIS MILES / MILES BUILDING SUPPLY !!

From Pocomoke Area Chamber of Commerce:

Pocomoke Nature Trail Tentative Construction Dates

~Volunteers Needed~

 

Thanks to Chris Miles, the City has received enough lumber to start building the understructure for the new boardwalk.  The foundation lumber or "sleepers," are being delivered today.

 

 We are in need of volunteers to help us get ready for the construction of the 600' long final piece of the Stevenson's Pond loop. 

 

This truly is a wonderful project!

 

We would like to work on several Friday/Saturday times in May. 

If you can lift a board or drive a 16 penny nail, we need you!

 

Sign up sheets are posted at Harris Ace Hardware, the Chamber of Commerce and at the office of Ritchie Shoemaker MD.

 

The spectacular Bird shirts, including ladies cuts, are being made now.

 

 For more information on donation of time or some dollars, please call the Chamber at 410-957-1919 or Dr. Shoemaker at 410-957-1550."

Please see www.pocomoke.com for more details.

Nature Trail Spring Cleaning

 Pocomoke Nature Trail Spring Cleaning

By Bill Kerbin

A group of naval personnel from the Surface Warfare Center at Wallops Island was prepared to trek into the Pocomoke nature trail for a cleanup prior to the summer season.

Don Malloy, Pocomoke City Council member, said that this is the second year that volunteers from the naval installation have worked to clean up the trail.

Pictured are: (left to right) Jonathan Spalding, Melanie Brink, Malloy, David Corey, and David Caison. They spent an afternoon last week cutting out brush and cleaning up the trail. 
Photo/Bill Kerbin

GO NAVY!!

Many thanks to Bill Kerbin.

The Olive Lippoldt Tidal Wetland Garden

The Olive Lippoldt  Tidal Wetland Garden

 Cypress Park

Pocomoke City, Maryland

Very shortly after my first visit to the Olive Lippoldt Memorial Tidal Garden.

A group of sailors from  the Wallops Island Station were the first to volunteer to assist in the completion of the  foot bridge over the tidal garden.  Last fall they were on hand to volunteer their services for work needed for the extension of the Nature Trail located in the back of  Cypress Park.

Please take the time to get out and visit Cypress Park.  This is your park and the extrance fee costs nothing.  Cypress Parks provides a place for chidren to run, an  area for a picnic and plenty of shade or sunshine and fresh air.   Don't forget to take a walk across the footbridge to see what living creatures my be there.  The plaques around the garden will provide you will all the infomation you need.  See what you can discover.  Take a photo of what you find, send it to me and I will post it for everyone to see.  And even if you find nothing send me a photo of  your  family member on the bridge and I will post that also.

The wonderful group of Sailors that have given their free time to volunteer in a town far from their own hometown will never be forgotten.  The gracious woman, Olive Lippoldt, that the tidal park was named in honor of will never be forgotten.  So Pocomoke it's time  for you  to sign up and be part of the plan. 

Let's continue  with the plans made to make the  Olive Lippoldt Tidal Wetland Garden and  Nature Trail even better than it is.

Volunteer your time.
Here's the link to previous photos of the garden.
http://thepocomokepubliceye.blogspot.com/2012/04/olive-lippoldt-tidal-wetland-garden_21.html

GO NAVY !!

"Friends Of the Nature Trail" Volunteers Still Needed

A huge THANK YOU ! goes out to those that have signed up to be part of the Friends of the Nature Trail!

VOLUNTEERS  ARE STILL NEEDED !!

There are still days left to do some work on the Pocomoke Nature Trail but as we all know the dismal fall weather that is typical for the Eastern Shore is getting nearer each day....  So are the holidays, followed by winter.  Remember how bored we all became last year and how the snow seemed to never end and spring and summer seemed so far out of reach? 

Well, my friends, here's the remedy for all those long, dismal days!  Sign up NOW  for Friends of the Nature Trail so that there will be something to look forward to when the weather clears in 2012. 

There's no reason to dread those long winter days if you know in the spring there will reason to get outside and DO something worthwhile!

Info below and the number to call..........

The Nature Trail Committee is still looking for community sprited people to volunteer to keep the Pocomoke Nature Trail alive and growing.


For many years the nature trail has been growing and it is so very important to keep this project alive and growing in the future. Here is where the "next generation" can step in. Here is YOUR chance to have a role in being one of the Friends of the Nature Trail.

You know, the Pocomoke River is a beauty by boat but it is just as wonderful to see from the nature trail.

Needed for this continuing project are:
Planners
Money Raisers
Schedulers
And of course citizens to help build.

It's a beautiful part of Pocomoke. Pocomoke belongs to YOU.

Grab a friend or relative or two and become members of the Friends of the Nature Trail.

Here's the number to call. Pocomoke City Hall/ (410)957-1333

Give them your name and tell them what part you would like to play in keeping the nature trail growing into the future.

Volunteers Needed For "Friends of the Nature Trail"

Do you love Nature and being out in the fresh air?  Then YOU need to be a volunteer for Friends of the Nature Trail.

*VOLUNTEERS ARE NEEDED*

The Nature Trail Committee is still looking for community sprited people to volunteer to keep the Pocomoke Nature Trail alive and growing.


For many years the nature trail has been growing and it is so very important to keep this project alive and growing in the future.  Here is where the "next generation"  can step in.  Here is YOUR chance to have a role in being one of the Friends of the Nature Trail.


You know, the Pocomoke River is a beauty by boat but it is just as wonderful to see from the nature trail.


Needed for this continuing project are:

Planners

Money Raisers

Schedulers

And of course citizens to help build.

It's a beautiful part of Pocomoke.  Pocomoke belongs to YOU.  Grab a friend or relative or two and become members of the Friends of the Nature Trail.

Here's the number to call.  Pocomoke City Hall/ (410)957-1333

Give them your name and tell them what part you would like to play in keeping the nature trail growing into the future.

Sign Up To Be A Volunteer For the Friends of the Nature Trail

The Nature Trail Committee is still looking for community sprited people to volunteer to keep the Pocomoke Nature Trail alive and growing.


For many years the nature trail has been growing and it is so very important to keep this project alive and growing in the future.  Here is where the "next generation"  can step in.  Here is YOUR chance to have a role in being one of the Friends of the Nature Trail.

You know, the Pocomoke River is a beauty by boat but it is just as wonderful to see from the nature trail.


Needed for this continuing project are:
Planners
Money Raisers
Schedulers
And of course citizens to help build.

It's a beautiful part of Pocomoke.  Pocomoke belongs to YOU.  Grab a friend or relative or two and become members of the Friends of the Nature Trail.


Here's the number to call.  Pocomoke City Hall/ (410)957-1333


Give them your name and tell them what part you would like to play in keeping the nature trail growing into the future.

Have You Thought About Being A Volunteer?

Volunteers are needed.... Please ask a friend to volunteer with you.  If you are a member of an organization get your group involved in this worthy cause.  Let's keep this trail growing......

WANTED

The Nature Trail Committee is looking for public spirited people!

Volunteers are needed to work with the Nature Trail Committee in continuing the trail extension of the Nature Trail.

To refresh your memories, The Nature Trail is located in the back of Cypress Park. The trail began as a boarded walk through a maze of Cypress trees, fern and other woodsy growth continuing over towards Stevenson's Pond. Benches were provided along the walkway for relaxing and observing those magnificent Cypress trees, birds and wildlife.

Through the years the Nature Trail has taken many twists and turns and now actually runs from Stevenson's Pond to the banks of the scenic Pocomoke River. The newer extensions connect to the original trail and wind their way through the more dense swamp. The trail is also handicap accessible.

Here is where volunteers are needed!! YOUR HELP is needed -as Friends of the Nature Trail- with continuing this dream and keeping the Nature Trail alive. More work needs to be done.

If you are an adult and you love the outdoors but can't seem to pull yourself away from the recliner to take a walk here is your excuse to get out into the fresh air! If you have experience in carpentry I'm sure your assistance would be appreciated in this rewarding work. You don't have to have experience - just be a volunteer.

Ask others in your church, your local organizations, or ask your neightbor to volunteer with you.

Let's see this dream that the Nature Trail Committee began a few years ago goes even farther than they ever thought possible.

I'll have another post in a couple of days giving you information on who to contact. But until then let's see how many wonderful Pocomoke people we can get to volunteer.

Wanted ~ Friends of the Nature Trail

WANTED

The Nature Trail Committee is looking for public spirited people!

Volunteers are needed to work with the Nature Trail Committee in continuing the trail extension of the Nature Trail.

To refresh your memories, The Nature Trail is located in the back of Cypress Park. The trail began as a boarded walk through a maze of Cypress trees, fern and other woodsy growth continuing over towards Stevenson's Pond. Benches were provided along the walkway for relaxing and observing those magnificent Cypress trees, birds and wildlife.

Through the years the Nature Trail has taken many twists and turns and now actually runs from Stevenson's  Pond to the banks of the scenic Pocomoke River. The newer extensions connect to the original trail and wind their way through the more dense swamp. The trail is also handicap accessible.

Here is where volunteers are needed!! YOUR HELP is needed -as Friends of the Nature Trail- with continuing this dream and keeping the Nature Trail alive. More work needs to be done.

If you are an adult and you love the outdoors but can't seem to pull yourself away from the recliner to take a walk here is your excuse to get out into the fresh air! If you have experience in carpentry I'm sure your assistance would be appreciated in this rewarding work. You don't have to have experience - just be a volunteer.

Ask others in your church, your local organizations, or ask your neightbor to volunteer with you.

Let's see this dream that the Nature Trail Committee began a few years ago goes even farther than they ever thought possible.

I'll have another post in a couple of days giving you information on who to contact. But until then let's see how many wonderful Pocomoke people we can get to volunteer.