Posted: Wed Aug 19, 2009 02:06 am Post subject: Updated: New trail provides safety, sense of community
Earlier this year I organized a National Day of Service event to focus community attention on our lovely Alice Baker Library in Eagle, WI. http://tinyurl.com/n5rplu One thing led to another, and I became a Library Trustee. One thing continues to lead to another, with some fun results. One of these is a nature trail that my friend Dr. Frank Nardine and I are creating to link the Eagle Elementary School to our library.
Here I am on my wicked Kubota L3130 tractor with a five-foot rotary brush cutter, making a bend in the trail. This project was a great excuse to go out and buy a nice new Huskvarna chain saw. When you see me in San Fransisco at NOSSCR, be sure to ask me what happened to my old chain saw!
Here is my friend, Frank, a former professor from the University of Chicago, having at it with a Stihl. Frank has really done a wonderful job getting this project rolling. It's not often that you get to be friends with a professor who knows how to clear heavy brush with a chainsaw too.
My wonderful daughter Maria starts school at the Eagle Elementary School next month. I'd better get that trail done fast!
Quote:
When Alice Baker Library Trustee and Treasurer Frank Nardine noticed that students from Eagle Elementary School were not walking from school to the library, he asked Principal Sara Norton about it. She informed him that students had no safe path from which to travel from one building to the other. Nardine then enlisted the help of Library Trustee David Traver, and the two embarked on a project to create a walking path between the two buildings.
Although the school and the library are close to one another, students had to walk on School Road and then along Highway NN to get from one to the other.
"That's just not safe," said Nardine.
Although the heavy labor has been largely handled by Traver and Nardine, they have received communitywide support for the project.
. . .
Traver's law firm, Traver & Traver S.C. of Eagle, has funded the project thus far, but Traver said costs have been kept significantly low because of community involvement.
Traver said they're looking for more help.
"We want people, not money," he said. "If you have extra flowers when you split your perennials this fall, we'd like them for our beds. If you'd like to contribute time or materials, we'd love it."
All of the major work should be done by the beginning of the school year. Signs will be added and flower beds planted in the future.
Want to help?
Call David Traver at (262) 594-0002 or Alli Chase at (262) 594-2800
Today we are installing the gravel path (about 800 feet) and taking out the last of the tree stumps with help from a local corporate sponsor (who wants to be anonymous!). Before Winter we will be planting the donated prairie seed that my friend Jean Weedman obtained (enough for several acres.) Home Depot has volunteered to build a pier on to the ephemeral pond and a outdoor classroom (amphitheater) as well.
Also, this project has grown from a little path to a full-blown prairie restoration project covering several acres. It sure takes a long time to do things when using only volunteers and donations. But it's really the best way to go, don't you think? _________________ David Traver
Attorney
Traver & Traver, S.C.
P.O. Box 459
Eagle, WI 53119
262-594-2096 (work)
david[at]traverlaw.com
As someone who makes frequent use of the public library system and will always vote 'yes' to fund them, I think that is a wonderful idea. Good for you!
Readers who have been lurking behind the scenes for years may wish to help in this marvelously green project by sending large donations. Please make your checks out to the Palmyra-Eagle School District. Also, please include a notation on your check that your donation is for the "Pathways Project." All donations are tax deductible. You will receive a receipt, a nice thank you letter, the gratitude of countless students. Also, if you wish, your name will go on our published list of sponsors (and perhaps on to a nice sign on the trail as well!). All donations, large and small, will be gratefully received and acknowledge, Thanks!
"Pathways Project"
% Attorney David Traver
Traver & Traver, S.C.
P.O. Box 459
Eagle, WI 53119
A big thank you to the Agrecol Corp. in Madison WI, http://www.agrecol.com/ for the lovely donation, as discussed below:
From this week's Mukwonago Chief:
Quote:
A lot has changed since last August, when Alice Baker Library Trustees David Traver and Frank Nardine began clearing the way for a path between the library and Eagle Elementary School. Volunteers were recruited, corporate sponsors were secured - and then there was a rainy spring followed by the June tornado. Plans for the path may seem to have moved ahead slowly, but the result will be better than ever, said Traver.
Community
Last week, the gravel was laid and the path will now provide students a safe route from the school to the library. Not only will it make things safer, but the new path will also provide a unique opportunity for partnership between the two facilities.
"Our initial goal was for this to bring everyone together," said Traver. "And it's working. The school principal (Sara Norton), The Nature Conservancy, the library and the community are all coming together."
Norton said she hopes the trail will encourage community members to come in and share with the students. Some students have parents who work for the Department of Natural Resources, for example, and they may be able to come in and teach the kids.
"I see this as really strengthening the community," Norton said.
The school and the library have been working cooperatively this past year to make way for their continuing partnership, especially since the path provides a physical connection between the two buildings.
"In the past, there hasn't been a lot of opportunity for the school classes to come to the library," said Alli Chase, Alice Baker Library director. "So this is very exciting for us."
The entire project has been undertaken by volunteers with donated help from area businesses.
Jean Weedman, who Traver described as their "prairie expert," explained that they received an acre of prairie seed as a donation from Agrecol Corp. in Madison. They also have a corporate sponsor who has donated all of the machinery used for clearing the pathway, as well as a donation for the gravel. Another corporate sponsorship is in the works, which would provide an amphitheater for an outdoor classroom, along with a pier going out to the site's pond, Traver said.
Safety
One of the main reasons the group felt a path was needed was to provide a safe way for children to travel from the school to the library. In the past, children would have to walk down School Road, which does not have a sidewalk, to Highway NN, which is a busy street and intersection, especially after school, explained Norton.
"The library has some great after-school programs, and this gives the community a way to get the kids there safely," said Norton. "In the past, we haven't been comfortable sending the kids to the library after school since there was no safe way to get there."
Chase explained that one can see all the way across the path, which also increases safety.
Plus, a security camera will be installed, said Traver. Village of Eagle Police Chief Russ Ehlers has also said the Police Department will patrol the trail, especially at night, to ensure the safety of its users.
An outdoor classroom
A tremendous effort has been made to rid the trail of invasive species, Traver said. Before winter, Weedman will plant the prairie seed, he said, and next spring, the area will be filled with beautiful native plants.
Once the amphitheater is built and benches are placed throughout the area, teachers will be able to use the space as an outdoor classroom.
"Whenever we can move learning outside of a school, it allows so many more connections for the students," said Norton.
Norton also said the site would open up an environmental classroom to students, as well as provide them a place to sit and do some writing or journaling.
The pathway will be usable by the first day of school, said Traver. The 6-foot-wide path will be bike friendly and handicap accessible, he said.
Weedman said the group's mission is to provide "education about Wisconsin's geological history, natural plant and animal communities, ecological leaders, etc."
"So this trail, which will physically link the Eagle Elementary School to the Alice Baker Memorial Library, will also serve to link area children to Wisconsin's rich ecological and environmental traditions," she said.
Want to help?
To help with the site's restoration, donate native plant species, volunteer time or monetary donations, contact Traver at (262) 309-0716 or Norton at (262) 594-2148.
Big day tomorrow for the Eagle Nature Trail. Home Depot is showing up at about 8:00 a.m with 40 volunteers, and a truck full of stuff. They will build an amphitheater, a pier on the pond, and a round bench for a tree (with some additional benches.) Bring your gloves and tools and plan to stay all day, dear volunteers! Go to the visitor's parking lot at the Eagle Elementary school, Eagle, WI. _________________ David Traver
Attorney
Traver & Traver, S.C.
P.O. Box 459
Eagle, WI 53119
262-594-2096 (work)
david[at]traverlaw.com
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