Ryerson looks to start of season
Friends of Ryerson held its sixth annual spring cleanup day April 6 at Ryerson Station State Park in preparation for the park’s upcoming season.
Seventeen group members, park staff, Waynesburg University students, New Freedom Grange members, East Franklin Grange members, the Greene County 4-H Shotgun Club and West Greene High School students participated in the cleanup.
In addition to picking up trash, the groups cleared trails and reported the location of downed trees on the trails.
Upcoming events at the park will include the following:
• A mushroom hike led by the Washington-Greene County Mushroom Club at 10 a.m. April 21.
• Tails on Trails at 10 a.m. May 11, followed by a rabies clinic with Vicki Soles from noon until 2 p.m. at a cost of $6 per shot. Greene County Humane Society will be there with pets that are available for adoption.
• The annual Outdoor Heritage Day will be held Sept. 14.
Over the past several years, the Friends of Ryerson has accomplished several things to improve Ryerson. The group purchased a specialized GPS and program for park staff to mark and map the location of all underground pipes and wires and to plot the boundary location of invasive plants.
Group member Edie Young said the maps are important when park staff retires or transfers to show new rangers the location of the pipes/wires. This information is often lost in the transition, Young said.
“With the plants, it will give us a good indication of whether we are losing the battle and where we need to concentrate our removal efforts,” she said.
Young said the group was also able to purchase a fully articulated CPR dummy for park lifeguards on which to practice lifesaving skills.
“We are in a long-term, cooperative project with the park to replace the picnic tables. So far, all the campground, pavilion and tables near the pool have been replaced,” Young said. They also remodeled the park’s amphitheater.
A main fundraiser to support such projects and purchases is the selling of firewood at the park. Because of restrictions on transporting firewood that might contain the emerald ash borer, campers are prohibited from bringing their own wood to the park. Friends of Ryerson purchased a log splitter to make firewood readily available for campers. The added benefit has been keeping campers from damaging the forest surrounding Ryerson, Young said.
Ideally, Friends of Ryerson would like to have more community action days at the park to help with the removal of invasive plants, split firewood or enjoy watching a movie at the amphitheater.
“We also want to work more with the park educator this year. We are a very small group, but I think we are accomplishing a lot,” Young said. “But, there is so much more we could do – if we had more people.”
To learn more about Friends of Ryerson, email friendsofryerson@gmail.com.