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Trail Mail
Friends of the Little Miami State Park |
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2016 Tree Planting |
"Until you dig a hole, you plant a tree, you water it and make it survive, you haven't done a thing. You are just talking." Africa's Wangari Maathai would have felt real kinship with the FLMSP tree-planting volunteers. In the spring of 2016, Rick Forrester and his reforestation team had potted over 300 seedlings, a 50% increase over 2015. By the end of the year, 179 of those trees and shrubs were lovingly settled in their new homes along our trail. He hopes to get more in the ground before spring if weather permits.
Rick says the group could have planted more of the trees if not for a health problem he experienced just before planting was to start in October. Considering the problem required immediate major heart surgery, we can certainly forgive Rick for the small postponement.
To make up for lost time, the team continued planting up until the final day of the year, sometimes in frigid conditions. On December 11, the volunteers were working at Branch Hill. "It was a beautiful day although the trees were popsicles when they came out of the pots," Rick reported. Read More
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Trail More Popular Than Ever
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Graph by John Theuring, FLMSP Trail Use Counting Chair
FLMSP's counting program recorded 1.27 million trail visits in 2016, a 40% increase over last year's count of 0.9 million. The most popular sections of the trail remain Loveland, Milford, and Fosters.
Our pioneering program uses electronic counters and sophisticated interpretation of data based on user surveys. The main purpose of this program is to demonstrate the importance and popularity of the trail to attract adequate funding, development, and oversight. The detailed data collected at 22 locations also provides customized usage reports to towns and communities along the trail.
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Eagle Scout Project Benefits Trail
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It's a win for everyone. The Little Miami State Park boasts a new kiosk to provide helpful information to trail users, FLMSP gets a big price break on construction, and Tejas Dinesh of Troop 838 in Morrow becomes an Eagle Scout.
Tejas, a junior at Little Miami High School, raised funds, gathered materials, organized volunteers, and supervised construction of the new kiosk at South Lebanon as his Eagle Scout project, with FLMSP providing blueprints and oversight. Read More
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New Ohio Bicycle Law Enacted |
Beginning March 19, cyclists will gain an extra measure of safety along Ohio's roads. That's when House Bill 154 takes effect, requiring motorists to allow clearance of at least 3 feet when passing cyclists.
The new law also permits any Ohio vehicle to proceed through an intersection after stopping and yielding right-of-way, even when not detected by the device meant to move the signal from red to green.
The new laws benefiting cyclists are thanks in large part to years of effort by the Ohio Bicycle Federation.
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Friends of the Little Miami State Park is a nonprofit organization devoted to the preservation and enhancement of the Little Miami State Park. We assist the Ohio Department of Natural Resources with development planning, capital improvements, and safety concerns, as well as providing most of the maintenance of the park.
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