Lehigh Portland Trails Work Day March 28th

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We’ve been making some tremendous progress on the Lehigh Portland Trails this month, and hope finish March on a productive note. A group of young people from the Upward Bound program at Neosho County Community College in Chanute is scheduled to be on-site this Saturday to help clear trail corridors. Along with local volunteers, we should be able to get a lot of work done in a short amount of time.

If conditions are right (low wind), we expect to see more scenes such as this (from last weekend):

Lehigh Portland Trails- Fire

Controlled burns of the brush piles will ultimately help to beautify the corridor, as well as remove fuel to help prevent possible future fire events in the forest. Those dried cedar limbs, once lit, go up like a torch!

Works also continues on the singletrack trails. We’ve cleared approximately 2-to-2.5 miles of natural-surface trails so far, with hopes for another 6-7 miles eventually. This photo shows a switchback turn that’s been cleared of underbrush and vines:

Lehigh Portland Trails - Switchback

Spring has arrived, and the woods and meadows at the Lehigh Portland Trails are beginning to come alive with color. Some of the old homesites on the property feature perennial flowers such as these Jonquils:

Lehigh Portland Trails - Jonquils.jpg

This coming Saturday, March 28th, we’re meeting at 9am, at the eastern trailhead, at the corner of 1600th and Nebraska Road (see map / streetview). Bring work clothes, including gloves, head protection, and eye protection. We’ll have the Trail in a Box on site, with hand and power tools, but please feel free to bring your own tools if you prefer.

For more information, please contact us.