By Doug La Rocque
More than 100 volunteers braved the early morning rain showers this past Saturday morning, to help give Grafton Lakes State Park its annual spring facelift. The gathering broke into several groups, cleaning the pavilion areas, the beach and park offices as well as the shorelines, the gardens and blueberry fields, rebuilding rustic benches along Long Pond trail and some special attention paid to the Fire Tower trail. The event is coordinated by Parks & Trails New York and involves 6,500 volunteers statewide. Locally, several troops of Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts were joined by Cub Scout pack 911 and The Friends of Grafton State Park. Gathering at Deerfield Pavilion before trekking off on their assignments, the workers were thanked by Veronica Fitzgerald, a member of the Parks & Trails Board. Fitzgerald telling them “your work today will bring real, tangible enhancements to the park. It will also send a strong message to elected officials that people love their parks.”[private]
Dorothy Surprise of the Friends of Grafton Lakes State Parks spoke about being awarded a $5,609 matching grant from the Environment Protection Fund’s Park and Trail Partnership Program to install a series of kiosks along the route to the newly rehabilitated Dickenson Hill Fire Tower Historic Site, to provide historical and cultural information to the general public and patrons of the Park. These kiosks will feature texts and images that tell the story of the historic fire tower, as well as that of Grafton’s Helen Ellett, the first woman Fire Tower Observer in New York State. It is hoped these improvements will be in place by October. The Friends group must still raise an additional $1,000 in matching funds. Any donations made are classified as tax deductible.
More than 65 million people visit New York’s State Parks annually, with Parks & Trails New York acting as an advocate toward preserving and enhancing the network of parks, trails and greenways for all New Yorkers.
Grafton Lakes officially opened this past week, with work underway for improvements to the rest rooms on the north and south side of the beach, as well as a new nature center.[/private]