Day One (April 21, 2012)
We got out to Hilltop this morning at 7:50 (pulling in the same time as Mr. Gesell) to set up for Mr. Kasharian and Mr. Wolf from Tim's Timber and prepare for a busy day. After a quick walkthrough with Mr. Gesell, we put out the caution tape and took a "pre-project" video.
When Mr. Kasharian arrived, we did another walkthrough (to make sure we were all on the same page) and he went to get the Skidder. This awesome machine was terrifyingly large and had pincers on one end and a dirt leveler on the other. Mr. Gesell likened it to the big "AT-ATs" from Star Wars and said that any moment, Ewoks would come screaming from the woods.
With Mr. K (and eventually Mr. Wolf) cutting up trees with his chainsaw, then skillfully maneuvering them with the machine, he cleared the main path and the classroom area of trees in an astonishing 3 hours and 40 minutes.
After they left and volunteers began arriving, we began clearing the trail of brush and digging up plant roots that could possibly trip people. There were lots of branches from the fallen trees so they were all dragged into two piles for the Mendham Borough Department of Public Works to chip and put on the trail.
Since there was a lot of dead grass and brush, we created a composting pile where students can learn about composting and use the resulting soil to replenish Hilltop's many flower beds. The biggest classroom area (with two logs in an "L") was raked clear of brush and delineated by other logs used to make the area safe. One volunteer brought a chainsaw that we used to grind down some potentially dangerous tree stumps.
An entire team of volunteers was allocated specifically to picking up the copious amounts of litter found in the woods. These were some of our favorite finds:
- Children shoe from (we guess) around the 1950s
- Headless miniature skeleton
- Glass French "limonade" bottle
- LED light-saber with no blade
- The blade to the LED light-saber
- Baseball base
- Many, many golf balls
Another important thing we did was remove many of the poison ivy vines wrapped securely around some of the trees. These and the pricker bushes pose the biggest threats to student populations, so they have either been trimmed back or destroyed (in the case of the poison ivy).
Toward the end of the day, we focused on cleaning as much of the trail as possible (only the main one) to prepare for the storm tonight. Hope it stays intact!
When Mr. Kasharian arrived, we did another walkthrough (to make sure we were all on the same page) and he went to get the Skidder. This awesome machine was terrifyingly large and had pincers on one end and a dirt leveler on the other. Mr. Gesell likened it to the big "AT-ATs" from Star Wars and said that any moment, Ewoks would come screaming from the woods.
With Mr. K (and eventually Mr. Wolf) cutting up trees with his chainsaw, then skillfully maneuvering them with the machine, he cleared the main path and the classroom area of trees in an astonishing 3 hours and 40 minutes.
After they left and volunteers began arriving, we began clearing the trail of brush and digging up plant roots that could possibly trip people. There were lots of branches from the fallen trees so they were all dragged into two piles for the Mendham Borough Department of Public Works to chip and put on the trail.
Since there was a lot of dead grass and brush, we created a composting pile where students can learn about composting and use the resulting soil to replenish Hilltop's many flower beds. The biggest classroom area (with two logs in an "L") was raked clear of brush and delineated by other logs used to make the area safe. One volunteer brought a chainsaw that we used to grind down some potentially dangerous tree stumps.
An entire team of volunteers was allocated specifically to picking up the copious amounts of litter found in the woods. These were some of our favorite finds:
- Children shoe from (we guess) around the 1950s
- Headless miniature skeleton
- Glass French "limonade" bottle
- LED light-saber with no blade
- The blade to the LED light-saber
- Baseball base
- Many, many golf balls
Another important thing we did was remove many of the poison ivy vines wrapped securely around some of the trees. These and the pricker bushes pose the biggest threats to student populations, so they have either been trimmed back or destroyed (in the case of the poison ivy).
Toward the end of the day, we focused on cleaning as much of the trail as possible (only the main one) to prepare for the storm tonight. Hope it stays intact!
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