August 2-11: 10 day Field Crew

1. Mitchell Pond UA Trail, Moose River Plains Wild Forest
We returned to the site of the universally accessible trail to finish the project from some weeks earlier. The work went well, and after a few days the crew from Chase Lake joined us. It was exciting to have extra hands working on the project. We were able to get most of the work done that the project required. We dug out the access trail to the lake, filled in around the campsite and half the trail with gravel, and left the project ready to be easily completed by the DEC staff.

2. Chase Lake Lean-to
The crew headed out, excited to demolish an old lean-to and construct new one one in its place. They started out tearing down the existing lean-to, bagging all of the garbage and dispersing the biodegradable timber components. They flattened and cleared the site making it useful for tent camping. Unfortunately they were unable to start construction on the new lean-to due to a cancelled helicopter flight containing the building materials. Fortunately for them there was plenty of work at Mitchell Pond, so they moved to that site to assist our other crew. This led to the formation of a formidable super-group-work-force, the likes of which had never been seen.

3. St. Regis Pond Campsites, St. Regis Canoe Area
Work continued on schedule, making good progress over the 10 day period. This week, sites were rehabilitated and moved on Long Pond, located to the South West of the previous work sites.

4. Santanoni Historic Area, Various Projects
We preformed invasive plant removal of Japanese Knotweed on the first day. We then prepared the boathouse near the gatehouse main entrance to be roofed. We removed asphalt shingles and took out some rotten roof boards. We also repaired some of the interior floorboards. The next day we started to shingle the roof using cedar shingles. By the end of the week the roof was nearly complete. While working independently over the weekend we went out to the great camp to do some staining of the palisades and siding. On Monday we worked with the DEC operations staff again to cap the boathouse roof as well as painting the eves and main door. While working on the boathouse we took several trips to the Newcomb dump to dispose of the old shingles. This proved to be exciting each trip, never quite sure what treasure was waiting to be uncovered, whether it be a sleeveless leather jacket or dog-sweater.