Fort Braden Work Day, November 10, 2024

I want to give a big shout out to the Lake Talquin State Forest staff, for opening up the blockage in the west loop caused by the tornado back in May. I organized a short-notice work day and was joined by Julie, Regine, and two guests of Regine’s who were visiting from Germany.
We surveyed the tornado section first (and Regine saw a bear disappear into the woods!). The rangers, headed up by Jai Subramanya, recreation director, had tackled the herculean task of opening up the trail and making it “horse safe”. What used to be complete hardwood canopy is now open sky with only a few scattered trees left. A sad sight but nature will eventually heal itself.
We walked the trail, and checked on a short detour Regine and I had flagged back in the summer, and called it good.
Our other project was also storm-related, but goes back to Hurricane Michael. There was a reroute put in downhill from the horse camping location, which has suffered numerous changes every time another tree fell down. I had the OK from forestry to re-establish the original trail to match the map. And that’s what we did! We even uncovered the original “Group Campsite” sign from where it had been hidden under debris for six years.
Fort Braden Trails are an ongoing project, but I was happy to check a couple of items off the “to do’ list.
Submitted by Leatha