Mother Nature fails to block path for nature-lovers

Published 12:00 am Sunday, September 27, 2009

Mother Nature showed her stuff Saturday morning with rain and a lot of weeds, vines and broken limbs, but it was not enough to keep a group of Cub Scouts, AmeriCorps volunteers from others trying to clear the way for nature-lovers.

“We hiked it and then we pulled weeds,” said 8-year-old Ethan Bagby, the son of Jamie Bagby and Dione Bagby of Vicksburg and one of 20 Scouts ages 7 to 11 from Vicksburg’s Pack 107 helping clear a hiking trail at the Vicksburg National Military Park.

The Scouts, their parents and 14 AmeriCorps volunteers cleaning up a 12.5-mile-long hiking trail at the park as part of the national cleanup effort called National Public Lands Day, a day dedicated for hands-on volunteer service to improve public shared lands.

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“It’s a national endeavor and there are thousands of volunteers out today who are doing the same thing,” VNMP coordinator Virginia DuBowy said.

DuBowy is also the natural resource program manager for the park.

“This is a very large volunteer event,” she said. “The Cub Scouts and the AmeriCorps team have gone out and cleared the primitive hiking trail.”

The Al Scheller Scout Trail, named after the man who started it nearly 30 years ago, begins at the Visitors Center off Clay Street, goes north to the USS Cairo Gunboat and Museum and loops back to the center.

“It’s a pretty rugged terrain,” DuBowy said. “It gives hikers an idea of what soldiers faced during the war.”

She said the trail hasn’t been hiked much lately due to a lack of maintenance, but will be promoted for Scout hikes or group hikes once cleanup is completed.

The AmeriCorps volunteers began the effort on the trail about three weeks ago, and Corps members say it’s near completion.

“It looks amazing,” said AmeriCorps member Ellen Wallin of Portland, Ore. “This is one of those projects where you can look back and see what you’ve done. The Cub Scouts did a great job, and they had a lot of enthusiasm.”

The weather had cooperated until mid-morning when rain came.

“It didn’t matter that it rained,” DuBowy said. “Everyone cooperated well and parents dived into it well, too.”

 “This thing is happening all over the country,” Ethan said, “so it was going to happen rain or shine.”

After the 4-hour cleanup, all volunteers gathered at the maintenance center and chatted about the mud on their boots while munching on pizzas.

AmeriCorps will continue the cleanup efforts this week or until the trail is visible enough for hikers to use.

Wallin said water bars will be installed to redirect the water flow to prevent flooding in certain areas and steps will be added in some areas.

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Contact Manivanh Chanprasith at mchan@vicksburgpost.com