Meeting connects volunteers with park needs
MUDDY CREEK TWP — It was all about making connections Saturday morning, April 15, at a volunteer kickoff meeting at pavilion 7 in the McDanel’s Area on the North Shore of Moraine State Park.
Whether clearing trails, explaining how the gristmill in McConnells Mill State Park works or helping give tours of Lake Arthur on the Preston Pearl pontoon boat, park staff and representatives of the nonprofit groups that support both state parks were on hand to explain how volunteers can help.
Natalie Simon, an environmental education specialist and volunteer coordinator at Moraine State Park, was happy with the turnout.
“The purpose of the meeting today is to connect people willing to volunteer with the friends group and experienced volunteers. This is interactive so meet as many people as you can,” said Simon at the start of the meeting that ran from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
She recommended people sign up online at the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources volunteer website. That way individuals, families and groups can be registered and be able to log in their volunteer hours.
“You can report volunteer hours and turn them in once a year,” she said. “That shows the powers that be how much this park is loved, and maybe they will follow your example and show us some love also.”
But to really get busy, she added, prospective workers can sign up to join one of the volunteer organizations present at Saturday’s meeting.
Diane Winston with the Davis Hollow Cabin, located in Moraine State Park, said the historic log and stone cabin’s friends chapter of the Pennsylvania Parks and Forest Foundation can use all the help it can get. The cabin was featured in the 2022 Netflix movie, “The Pale Blue Eye” and requests to rent the cabin have increased since the film’s release.
The film centers on the involvement of a young Edgar Allan Poe in solving a series of murders at the West Point military academy in the 1830.
Winston said the cabin served as the home of Christian Bale’s character, Augustus Landor, and she’s gotten calls from Poe enthusiasts looking to take in the cabin’s atmosphere.
Still, the cabin needs more mundane tasks done, such as cleaning the yard of wind-fallen branches and stacking firewood.
The two organizations responsible for most of the trail maintenance work, the Wampum and Butler chapters of the North Country Trail Association, were both present at the volunteer meeting.
Lyn Szymkiewicz of Baden, Ohio, represented the Wampum chapter, which is responsible for 120 miles of the trail from Zoar, Ohio, to Moraine State Park.
“Volunteers are responsible for general trail maintenance, pruning brush, picking up sticks on the trail and also trail work such as adding gravel and bridge construction,” she said.
Her counterpart with the Butler chapter, Jan Genaway, said her 150-member group is responsible for 57 miles of the trail running from Moraine State Park to Parker. In addition to trail maintenance, Genaway said chapter members also adopt a section of the trail and perform monthly upkeep on their stretch of the trail.
Brian Caldwell of the Gristmill Bakers was looking for people willing to bake over open fire or use Dutch ovens to make bread and pizzas.
“We were founded by Stan Melecki. He used to cook out at the Old Stone House,” said Caldwell. “We bake out at the gristmill, the regatta, Winterfest and the McConnells Mill Heritage Festival.”
“We teach classes and give away samples. Today, people have a huge need to know where their food comes from,” he said.
Fellow member Katie Gemperlein said, “We’re pretty grassroots at this point. I know a lot of people interested in doing it.”
Other groups present at the pavilion and looking to make connections with interested volunteers included the National Horse Lovers Association, a horseback riding club that has taken on maintenance of Moraine’s horse trails; the Moraine, McConnells Mill, Jennings Commission that runs the Muddy Creek Oil Well living history demonstration on the second Saturdays of the month from June through October; and the Moraine Preservation Fund, which was looking for help with Lake Arthur tours aboard its Preston Pearl pontoon boat, organizing Winterfest, and running the Owlet Gift Shop.
Paul and Shannon Wiser of Butler were sold on the message.
“We’re going to help cleaning out the flower beds by the park office (next Saturday),” said Shannon Wiser.
