Stewards of Stewart

Stewards of Stewart Earthday 2013 Cleanup and Parking Lot Pizza Party

2013-04-21T07:29:15Z

All,

Many thanks to Adolf, Anthony, Ben, Bronwen, Carl, Claudia, Damian, David, Denise, Dennis, Jane, Justin, Keara, Lucille, Lynn, Mary, Mateo, Sam, Sandra, Tahira, Tasha, Timothy, Todd, Vin, and Wayne,

Saturday, 4/20/2013, was a great day - we had 26 trash picker-uppers as well as Lynn and Sara from Fox Hill! We concentrated on Stewart's internal roads and hunter parking spots and picked up lots of trash - not only those obnoxious styrofoam cups, but tires, 55-gallon drums, and all manner of nasty stuff that had been lurking along side the roads for years and years.

In case anyone was wondering, we'll plan to do it again next spring.

Again many thanks,

David

Reminder - Stewart State Forest Earthday 2013 Trash Cleanup and Pizza Party – Saturday, 04/20/2013

2013-04-18T07:03:30Z

All,

Stewards of Stewart is sponsoring a Trash Cleanup and Pizza Party on Saturday, 04/20/2013

When: Saturday, April 20, 2013.

•       Meet and Greet – from 12:30 PM to 1:00 PM (Youth Turkey Hunt ends at noon)
•       Collect Trash – from 1:00 PM to 3:30 PM 
•       Pizza Party – from about 4:00 PM until….

Note: Sunday April 21, 2013 is our rain date.

Where: Ridge Rd North / Rt 17K parking area.

Who: Everyone who loves Stewart – and their families, i.e. Bird Watchers, Bikers, Dog Trainers, Equestrians, Hikers, Hunters, Snowmobilers, Tree Huggers, etc.

What: We’ll concentrate our efforts on Stewart’s internal roads (Barron Rd, New Rd, Ridge Rd, and Maple Ave) and the 67odd hunter parking spots inside the forest.

During the ‘Meet and Greet’ we’ll divide into teams (three or four people with a pickup truck) and assign territories.

The Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) will provide the trash bags and move the collected trash to the dump.

Note: The DEC covers volunteers with Worker's Comp Insurance, but only if we send in the volunteer's full name, address, and phone number prior to the volunteer’s first workday. Please email that information to info@stewardsofstewart.org ASAP if you plan to join the Cleanup.

See you on the 20th,

Stewards of Stewart

SOS Earthday 2013 followup

2013-04-06T06:08:13Z

I forgot to attach the cartoon.

It's from Walt Kelly's comic strip 'POGO'. It came out in 1971 in time for the second Earthday.

Stewart State Forest Earthday 2013 Trash Cleanup and Pizza Party – Saturday, 04/20/2013

2013-04-06T05:45:20Z

All,

Stewards of Stewart is sponsoring a Trash Cleanup and Pizza Party on Saturday, 04/20/2013

When: Saturday, April 20, 2013.

•               Meet and Greet – from 12:30 PM to 1:00 PM (after the Youth Turkey Hunt)
•               Collect Trash – from 1:00 PM to 3:30 PM 
•               Pizza Party – from 4:00 PM until….
Note:           Sunday April 21, 2013 is our rain date.

Where: Ridge Rd North / Rt 17K parking area.

Who: Everyone who loves Stewart – and their families, i.e. Bird Watchers, Bikers, Dog Trainers, Equestrians, Hikers, Hunters, Snowmobilers, Tree Huggers, etc.

What: We’ll concentrate our efforts on Stewart’s internal roads (Barron Rd, New Rd, Ridge Rd, and Maple Ave) and the 80 odd hunter parking spots.

During the ‘Meet and Greet’ we’ll divide into teams (three or four people with a pickup truck) and assign territories.

The Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) will provide the trash bags and move the collected trash to the dump.

Note:            The DEC covers volunteers with Worker's Comp Insurance, but only if we send in the volunteer's full name, address, and phone number prior to the volunteer’s first workday. 
                 Please email that information to info@stewardsofstewart.com ASAP if you plan to join the Cleanup.

See you on the 20th,

David

Stewards of Stewart Workday – Saturday, 03/30/2013 - Not Easter Sunday

2013-03-27T09:57:34Z

Apologies for the mix-up with the date - Easter Sunday was not a wise choice.

Saturday, March 30, 2013 is our next workday – We’ll concentrate on Windsor and Camp and try to get to some blowdowns on Sara’s Way. Details on stewardsofstewart.com

Hope to see you Saturday.

SOS Workday - Sunday 3/17/2013 moved to Sunday 3/31/2013

2013-03-16T15:29:51Z

Sorry for the late notice, but Sunday's workday is cancelled - too many people still under the weather. We'll try again on the 31st.

David

Stewards of Stewart Workday – Saturday, 03/17/2013

2013-03-11T09:59:14Z

All,

Sunday, March 17, 2013 is our next workday – We’ll concentrate on Windsor, Sara’s Way and Camp.

We'll meet at the Weed Rd / RT 207 lot prior to 9:30. We’ll leave the parking lot at 9:30 and plan to finish work around 2:00 PM. I drive a silver Ford Transit and will park somewhere in the middle of the lot.

Please bring your bike. Those of us who drive in will likely park our cars at the south end of ‘Windsor’ and trailer/schlep the tools in from there.

See stewrdsofstewart.org for additional information.

David

SOS News – 02/13/2013

2013-02-13T07:22:26Z

All,

Hope you are all well.

No February 2013 SOS workday – too much snow and slush

Workday Schedule - 2013
We've made a small change to our workday schedule for 2013. Workdays will still be - mostly - on the third weekend, but alternating between Saturdays (even numbered months) and Sundays (odd numbered months). See the workday tab on stewardsofstewart.org

Posts and Signs Plans - 2013
In 2013 we plan to install 25 more posts and about 70 signs. This will cover most of Stewart’s road-to-road and road-to-trail intersections.

Large Topographic Map
We’ve been collaborating with the Orange County Geographic Information Systems Department (OC GIS) to create a bigger badder topo map of Stewart. OC GIS has merged the trails information from our excellent ‘Woods Elf’ maps into their mapping software. This yields at least two benefits:

1.       SOS will have a large (about 36” x 48”) map – with five foot contour lines – for planning.
2.       Local rescue squads will have trail level detail in their GIS systems.

stewardsofstewart.org Map Page
Our webmaster – Jeff Montanye – has added a map page to our website and fixed our 'tiny file size' map download problem. If you can, use legal size paper when you print the trail map.

Stewart Spring 2013 Cleanup – Saturday, April 20, 2013 – the SOS April 2013 Workday This spring we’ll have an opportunity to cleanup some of the trash lying along Stewart’s roads and trails. On April 20th we’ll concentrate our efforts along Stewart’s roads and the hunter parking spots. In the mean time, take a plastic shopping bag with you when you go out on the trails. When you find some trash, put it into the bag and either leave the bag by the side of a road or, better yet, take it home and dispose of it there.

SPARC Stewart State Forest Bike Tour – Sunday, June 2, 2013 Mark your calendars and hold the date! We will again work with SPARC to design, flag, and marshall the bike tour routes. If you want to help out please get in touch.

Take care,

David

SOS News - 01-11-2013

2013-01-11T05:41:27Z

Hope you are all well,

More Signs to Come
Last week, three friends from the Northeastern Woodworkers Association helped me prepare more white oak for trail and road signs. We ended up with about 160 linear feet of sign stock - enough for maybe 50 or 60 more signs.

New IMBA Regional Director
IMBA just hired a new Regional Director for NY and New England - Adam Coppola - I believe he will live here in the Hudson Valley. The previous Regional Direct - Frank Maguire - remains in place in the Mid-Atlantic Region.

See you on the trails,

David

SOS News – 2012-12-13

2012-12-13T08:02:36Z

All,

Good news – Regular deer season is over and we are allowed back into Stewart. However, Muzzleloader and Bow seasons continue until the 18th.

More good news – Yesterday, armed with a chainsaw and DEC approval, we cleared a bunch of blowdowns. Most were on Orchard and Drakes, but we also cleared the big tree on Meadowview – photos attached. We’ll keep at it over the winter, as weather and time permit.

Not so good news – there’s a great deal of litter in the forest – especially along the roads. Obviously some people have never heard of ‘Carry in – Carry out’. We will work with the DEC and other user groups to organize a cleanup day / week / month / whatever in the spring. An idea to consider – carry plastic grocery bags on your rides, pickup trash you find along the trails, and dispose of it at home.

Take care and have fun,

David

SOS News 2012-11-12

2012-11-12T06:09:22Z

All,

Kudos to Ben, Darren, Douglas, Jim, Mateo, Sam and the four hoofed stars of the day – the Fox Hill Halflingers – Lynn and Sara.

We had a very successful workday this past Saturday. We finished work on the ‘around’ at the Pittman-Robertson / Windsor (G4/5) intersection and raised the up-slope portion of the tread at the often muddy low spot just north of CG Bridge on Windsor (G6) – see photos. The horses and wagon (think two horsepower old school ATV) made a huge difference – they allowed us to move loads of ‘largish’ stones for the retaining wall at the G6 site as well as several loads of tread material from the Beaver Pond shale bank.

Heads-up: Regular (shotgun) Deer season begins Saturday 11/17/12 and goes until Sunday 12/09/12. During these three weeks, only hunters are allowed on the property – thus no riding, hiking, dog walking, bird watching, etc.

After Regular Deer season, and weather permitting, we’ll be back in the woods dealing with the many ‘Sandy’ blowdowns and installing more sign posts.

BTW: If you know of a section of trail that needs attention – think “ugly low-hanging fruit” – please let us know.