Saturday, March 23, 2019

Boehm Pond Bridge Relocation

During one of the storms this winter Mother Nature decided our footbridge on Boehm Pond Brook was too low and decided to move it downstream about 100 feet.  It came to rest under a tree at the top of a scenic cascade.  The Boehm Pond Bridge was built 2 Years ago, had weathered a number of storms successfully and was pinned int the bank, but this time the stream was really whippin' and the pins didn't hold.

This was where the bridge used to be.  We thought it would be a pretty simple matter to have 2 guys pick it up and walk it back into place.  So on a bright and blustery Saturday morning Bill and Jim went to get it and lo and behold it was heavier than expected.

Here's Jim, Bill & Bob rummaging in the brush trying to get the bridge out of the stream by themselves.  That wasn't happening so we went to Plan B:  get more volunteers and a rope.  Where were all the high school students today? 


With the aid of more volunteer horsepower they were able to slide the bridge across a log, carry it back upstream, then down a slope and back across the brook where another team had raised the stone foundations higher so the bridge wouldn't get washed out quite so readily in the future.

The relocated bridge back in place on the new footings.

We took a some time to level up the bridge, add more rocks to the foundation, and improve the access approaches.  Jim brought some steel cable out and he and Mike attached one end of the bridge to a nearby tree so if the bridge got adventurous again it wouldn't wander too far downstream.  (We didn't ask Jim why he happened to be driving around with some extra steel cable in his car).

Then the crews split up and cleared brush and blowdowns along the White and Yellow trails.  Some went over to Boehm Pond and looked at the old bridge on the North end of the pond.  Jim was the bravest and ventured across and back successfully.  He thinks we can just replace some of the old deck timbers.  This would re-open fishing access around the far side of the pond, which is part of the public open space.

Other people went out and cleared some larger blowdowns on the trail extension out to Boehm Circle.  There's a pedestrian easement that leads back out to Farmill Street there.  Several trees were down blocking the way though.

Mark cut up one large ash jumble that was blocking the path.

You can see the "Blonding" for the woodpeckers looking for the Emerald Ash Borers that all killing off the ash trees.  What a shame losing all these nice trees due to an invasive insect and what countless hours are required statewide to clean up this mess.

We also cleared out some multiple birch blowdowns that were blocking a re-route across the Brook.  There's more brush to cut, but at least it's smaller stuff now.  This was a busy morning and we got a lot accomplished; a bridge restoration, cleared multiple blowdowns, and general trail clean-up.  Thanks to Val, Mike W., Bill, Bob, Mark, Jim, Mike F., and Terry.  Now people can go watch the NCAAs.



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