Do you run, ski, or snowshoe on the trails at Hammond Hill State Forest? FLRC relies on those trails for our Super Frosty Loomis snowshoe race, the Thom B. Trail Runs, and one of the FLRC Challenge courses. For many of us, they’re a year-round outdoor exercise destination. Unfortunately, all that use has damaged a number of the trails.
Most of the trail maintenance work on those trails is organized and funded not by the state, but by the forest stewards—the Friends of Hammond Hill, organized by Mike Ludgate and Ann Leonard—in this case.
FLRC is helping the Friends of Hammond Hill with a fundraiser to raise money to repair damaged trails. Their goal is $10,645 for the gravel and trail fabric and to pay a trail professional to do the mechanical work necessary. The campaign has been a great success so far, raising nearly 75% of the total already, but it would be great if FLRC members and other local trail users could increase that number. Can you kick in a few bucks to maintain Hammond Hill’s trails?
Thanks to the Friends of Hammond Hill for all they do to keep the trails runnable, to Ithaca’s GiveGab for their financial and technical support in this fundraiser, and to everyone who supports the fundraiser!
Here’s an email I got from Ann Leonard and Mike Ludgate with news about the fundraiser and trail repairs. It looks like they’ll be able to have more work done than expected after exceeding the goal by a good amount. Thank you to everyone who made this happen!
Dear trail enthusiasts,
Mike and I met with John Clancy and Tim Day of the DEC to discuss our trails project yesterday. We are very nearly ready to get this party started! The project design is virtually done, the TRP (Temporary Revocable Permit) almost ready, and our contractor tells us he is available to get started the minute we have permission to get on the trails. As the ground is still quite soft and trees are more vulnerable to damage from heavy equipment this time of year, we were told we won’t be able to get the work underway until July at the earliest. As disappointing as this slight delay might be, we certainly don’t want to cause more harm than good. The good news is, based on our initial estimates, we have enough money ( $13,020) to do our initial fix its on Yellow 4, 5 and 7, and should also (barring unforeseen circumstances) be able to do Red 1. With any luck, the cost of materials and labor won’t go up between now and the start of our project because we are just a teensy bit over budget adding repairs to Red 1 into the mix.
Meanwhile, please continue to share the GiveGab link! We are still taking donations, having extended our deadline to May 31st to give our procrastinating friends a chance to pitch in too. (and who doesn’t procrastinate from time to time? I sure do!)
Meanwhile, best wishes to all. We hope to see you out enjoying the trails! Ann and Mike