Dickey's Ridge Launch Cleanup : March 28

[Joe Schad]

Weather permitting, I have scheduled a cleanup of the Dickey's Ridge launch for March 28th starting at 10am. I am sending a list of names of pilots that I know who fly the site (Tom McGowan, Steve Kinsley, Bruce Engen, Hank Hengst, Pet Shuman, Gary Smith, Carlos, Hugh, Ellis, Tom Ceunem, Laszlo, Mark Cavanaugh, Dave Proctor are ones I remember). The purpose of the list is for the park service to provide free access to skyline drive that day. Please let me know (jgs1942@shentel.net) if you plan to be there. It would be good to have 5-10 people to show the interest level for the park folks. The Park Ranger will give us a few safety instructions before we start. No powered tools permitted, just hand items, saws, clippers, etc. The park service will be removing some trees but that will not occur before we have the work day. The trees are marked. We are allowed to clear everything within the current cleared area of the launch.

After the work party, Zelda and I will have some refreshments at the picnic area at the visitors center.

Joe

[Matthew]

Way to go Joe!

You should get a USHPA award for this!!!

Matthew

[pink_albatross]

Thanks so much, Joe and Zelda!
I'll be there.
-- ellis

[Pete Schumann]

Hey Joe,

Great! Already had it marked on my calendar. Cool beans! C-U there, with any luck it will be a nice SW day.

One thing though what's my name Joe? Pete Schumann "Your dam right it is" from the Magnificent Seven

Farmers: "Even if we had guns,we know how to plant and grow, we don't know how to kill"
Chris one of the Seven: "Then learn or die"

Pete

[Spark]

Joe,

Getting the National Park Service to sanction an effort like this is a major milestone.

Thanks very much for all of your efforts.

[carweill]

Joe,
I have never been to Dickey's Ridge but I know that you have been instrumental in the maintenance of many sites.
If this is a case the most people they see is best then I'll be there (I'll contact you directly)

Carlos

[On top of that I didn't move quickly enough on the Kite festival ]

[markc]

Count me in for the cleanup Joe, I'll be there with saw, clippers, and loppers!
And maybe a few cold ones to complement Zelda's chili, looking forward to it.

Cheers, and many kudos to you for putting an NPS-sanctioned work party
together, that's REALLY a big deal!

MarkC

[Joe Schad]

IT is saturday 7:20 am. The rain has stopped and everything is wet. Dress for mud and keep warm. I noticed that my update message yesterday ended up several messages down on the list. See you at 10:00.

Joe

[markc]

We came, we saw, we hacked!

And Dickey's Ridge is looking better than it has in years!

We had a large hard-working crew out there today thanks to Joe's
organizational and motivational talents. Maybe 10 pilots to start
with, and a few more arriving later in the morning. We cleared
the slot top to bottom in 2.5 hours, with conditions that were
just about perfect for a work party: foggy & cool.

Others were taking photos of the event, including some good
group shots. So all I have are a couple that I snapped at the bottom
of the slot, see below.

Definitely a worthwhile day out there, think I'll be sending in my
registration form for the Skyline sites this year!

MarkC

[Joe Schad]

Twas a foggy and misty day but we were able to clean up the launch with the great turnout of folks. Ten people were there and we finished in about two and a half hours. Steve Bair, Park Ranger gave us a safety talk before starting and outlined the boundaries where we could cut (within the orginal site limits). He also marked trees for the Park Service to cut later. Dickey's is in the best shape I have seen it in years. Thanks to everyone for helping. I will try to attach a couple of pictures to this message.

Joe

[Joe Schad]

One more crack at attaching a picture.

Joe

[mcgowantk]

Thanks to everyone who made it out to the clean up. Especially to Joe Shad who worked out the arrangements with the Park. From what I understand, the launch will be much improved. Not only was the slot cleaned up, but the Park marked a number of trees for clearing that should make the launch much safer. Your efforts will result in years of enjoyment of a unique beautiful site. Thank you.

Tom McGowan

[pink_albatross]

oh, and let's not forget Zelda who provided us with food and drink afterwards!
Very much appreciated!
-- ellis

[Dave Proctor]

A big THANK YOU to Joe Shad for coordinating with the park service to allow us to maintain this sensitive site and hustling in general to make it all happen. A big THANKs to Zelda also for the great chili afterwards, it hit the spot and thanks to all the participants. If the park service cuts down all the big trees that are marked this will be an awesome lanuch.

Dave P

[pink_albatross]

Can't figure out how to post pictures. Here's the link to pictures from the clean up:
http://picasaweb.google.com/pink.albatross/March2009#
you can ignore all those animal and paragliding pictures.
-- ellis

[XCanytime]

Ellis,
Your pictures have to be under 2 Megabyte size for them to post successfully. If you notice, drag your cursor over the posted pictures and their size will usually come up. They are normally in the 200 to 300 Kbyte size.

Bacil