Zane Carter s Eagle Scout Project Newfield s Vernal Pools With support of BSA Troop 34 and in cooperation with: Town of Newfield, NY Upper Susquehanna Coalition Special thanks to: Melissa Yearick (USC) Cindy Schulte Presented to: Baden-Powell Council, BSA Taughannock District Dec 15 th, 2011
Background Vernal pools built in 2009 in the wooded section of the 20 acres that the town of Newfield owns on Van Kirk Rd. Upper Susquehanna Coalition (USC) constructed the pools and created a sign (www.u-s-c.org). Sign was never placed on location and very few people know about the vernal pools - what they are for, where they are, and who built them. 2
Eagle Project Goals/Tasks 1. Inform the Newfield public about the vernal pools using educational/informational brochure. 2. Build and put in place sign board stand at pool site. similar to Newfield covered bridge sign 3. Build and put in place two simple wooden benches. a bench near each pool 4. Construct footpaths and viewing areas around pools. footpaths will lead from the ATV trail protect the surrounding vegetation/wildlife 3
Will contain: Educational Brochure Information on vernal pools, amphibians, vegetation, and pool construction Map to pools Acknowledgements Placed in box at sign and at Town Hall, Library, etc Print on tri-fold glossy 8.5x11 paper Print 500 cost about $200 4
Sign Board Stand Stand similar to Covered Bridge, but smaller size sign (2.5 x1.5 ) Add covered box for brochure Materials: 2 12 4x4 pressure treated (pt) 1 8 4x4 pt 1 8 1x6 pt 5 8 2x6 pt Plywood 1 sheet 5/8-4 x8 Screws and bolts 4 special bolts for sign board shingles (1/2 bundle), drip edge waterproof stain 2 bags of concrete Covered Bridge Sign
Wooden Benches Material per bench: 3 10 2x8 pt 1 8 2x4 pt 30 3 galvanized screws 12 4 (or 5 ) bolts waterproof stain short loop of chain for anchoring to ground BSA Camp Barton bench design Front View router BSA Troop 34 on back of bench Side View Top View 5 ft 16
Foot Paths And Viewing Area Small foot path to edge of pools use large flat rocks at edge of pools and wood chips elsewhere Materials: rocks (collect locally) and wood chips (Newfield Highway Dept) Pool 1 Pool 2 Footpath: about 200 7
Brochures Cost Breakdown (Retail) printing cost - $200 Footpaths large flat rocks - collected from local property (free) wood chips obtain from City of Ithaca (free) Wood stand for sign and wood benches lumber, shingles, hardware, stain - $301 itemized cost on next slide
Stand and Benches 2-12 4x4 pt $13/ea $26 1-8 4x4 pt $10/ea $10 1-8 1x6 pt $6/ea $6 5-8 2x6 pt $5/ea $25 6-10 2x8 pt $9/ea $54 2-8 2x4 pt $4/ea $8 1 plywood 5/8-4x8 $20/ea $20 1 bundle 25yr. 3tab shingles $30/ea $30 1-10ft drip edge $4/ea $4 2 bags of Quikrete $5/ea $10 1-5lb box 3 galvanized screws $30/ea $30 20-4 ½ galvanized bolts (3/8 dia) + washers $1.50/ea $30 4 1 galvanized bolts (3/8 dia) + washers $0.50/ea $2 6 chain $3/ft $18 1 gal Behr premium deck stain $28/ea $28 Total $301
Tools and Misc (all are available to us already) shovels, post-hole digger, rakes saws, drills, hammers, paint brushes computer and software (MS Publisher for brochure) ATV and wagon
Schedule Presented to and approved by Newfield Town Board (Dec 8 th ) - presenting to Scout Council on Dec 15 th Brochure complete during holiday break and send to printers in January/February Fundraiser pick reasonably nice weekend in March for can and bottle drive Sign Stand cut and pre-assemble during spring break Wood Benches cut and pre-assemble during spring break Footpaths and structure placement first nice weekend in May (after Trillium and other wild flowers bloom)
Summary Project will benefit USC by installing their sign and supplementing it with informational brochures. Will also benefit people of Newfield by making area more accessible and visitor friendly. Help preserve the wildlife and natural vegetation. No cost to Newfield public/town, unless they wish to donate. Fundraiser should cover majority of costs. We will seek donations and discounts on lumber and hardware. Members of public expressed desire to donate during Town Board meeting. All required tools plus 4-wheeler with trailer are available.
Backup slides
USC Support >>> "Melissa Yearick" <melissa@u-s-c.org> 10/31/2011 9:37 AM >>> Cindy, The sign kiosk looks great! Thanks for sharing it with me. It would be nice to use pictures from the sites as much as possible, and I have quite a few. I ve been out a few times, and am impressed with how everything is progressing. The pools and surrounding forest look very nice. I ve seen several amphibian species there and the forest wildflowers are really stunning in spring. Zane could include a little species guide in the brochure I can help by sending along my favorite photos of what I ve seen. What about if Zane built a few primitive benches to put out there by the pools? Maybe he could do a tree and wildflower ID signs out there too, or even a little wooden viewing area, like a small section of boardwalk that encircles the edge of a portion of the pool? It may be nice for visitors who want to look in the pool to be able to do so without getting muddy, but he would need to be cautious about where he puts the boardwalk supports. The pools were constructed with a rubber liner, so he ll have to be careful not to puncture it. As for the pool, adding woody debris to it will increase the quality of the habitat in pools for our salamander friends. We have a new book that we published for our partner Tom Biebighauser that would probably be a great resource. It s for sale on the Wetland Trust s (USC s partnering land trust) website: http://www.thewetlandtrust.org/wetlandrestorationbook.html and it talks all about pool construction, ways to increase habitat. -Melissa
USC Support It looks like Zane did a great job on the powerpoint sorry I didn t get you these pictures earlier. These were all taken at the site, and most were taken in 2010. I believe they were built in August 2009, but can double check and let you know. I have all of the pictures from our field guide in larger file sizes that I could send you if there is one that you particularly like: http://www.u-s-c.org/html/vpfieldguide.htm Otherwise I ll look through to see if I have any new favorites and get them to you. Did the book arrive in good shape? I think you were the first New York order. Any time you reference the USC s website, it s easier to just say www.u-s-c.org, that opens the home page just fine. I ll send a second e-mail with a digital copy of the sign so that you can use that image if you want, you can also take portions of the image to include in the powerpoint/brochure. Last thing is, I would suggest that if you could wait until spring to layout the trail it would be nice. That way you can see where the trillium and other spring wildflowers are the thickest, and try to avoid those areas. - Melissa 15
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Pool 1 Pool 2 Footpath
Vernal Pool Site
Front View Side View Top View 5 ft 16 in