Brush Cutting at Great Ledge

There are never enough hours in the day to cut all the brush along Shelton Trails during the growing season.  Last year was tough with all the multiple Nor'easters, storm damage repairs, and brush clearing. There was explosive growth particularly in the sunny wet spots.

There are spots where we get these walls of brush growing into the trails during Spring and early summer and they can restrict the trail width while we are working on other problem areas.  It seemed like we were always behind the Eight Ball trying to play catch up with the brush. 

But not this year.

On Saturday, 10 volunteers staged a preemptive strike to cutback the briars and brush along the RecPath near Great Ledge just south of Oak Valley Road.  The area is open and sunny next to Spooner Swamp and the brush has been gradually growing in tighter along the RecPath.  We've cut it every year, but usually it's later in the season after all the other crisis' have been dealt with and the brush is growing into the RecPath.

We spread out and cut back the briars at least 2 feet back from the edge of the crushed stone surface, and tried to go further for anything with thorns or aggressive growth.  We also tried to clear out invasive species, but left slower growing native species; like Mountain Laurel.

Some cut hi, some cut low, some by hand, some using power tools.    We also cleared out clogged drainage pipes, raked leaves (where they weren't frozen in place), and cleared out debris.  It was great having a good sized crew.

The RecPath looked better after we were done.  There were a number of folks out enjoying the trails on a cold December morning.  Hopefully this pre-growing season cutting makes the RecPath a little nicer to use now, and it should make things more comfortable come Spring when everything leafs out.

 After.  We hope to do this type of treatment elsewhere along the trails during the coming winter months, weather permitting.  Thanks to Jose, Marc, Joe, John, Val, Jim, Bill, Mark, Mike and Terry