Youth program performs needed maintenance along Yough River Trail
OHIOPYLE – A group of Adelphoi Village youth from Fayette County are fulfilling their community service requirements by performing Yough River Trail improvement projects, which Ohiopyle State Park officials said might not otherwise get done. “I am truly pleased and surprised with the amount of work they’re accomplishing,” said Kris Baker an assistant park manager with Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. “It’s working out great. The kids are accomplishing more with than I thought they would. They enjoy coming out here.”
A crew of up to six students ages 11 to 17 from Adelphoi Village of Fayette Day Treatment in Connellsville has been working every Thursday and Friday, weather permitting, since June 12 on a variety of projects.
They’ve nearly completed two shelters for cyclist, walkers and joggers, who use the trail. One is about half way between the park and Confluence, and the other one is near the Bruner raft take-out area.
The kids are installing six recycled plastic benches, cutting weeds, laying lime dust on the trails, fixing areas washed out by rain, waterproofing wooden bridges and repairing emergency turnarounds. They also built 16 wood duck nesting boxes, including six they have erected so far.
The shingle-roofed shelters have already been constructed and set into place. Baker is hoping for good weather this week so the kids can pour the cement pads in the forms they just completed.
Baker said waterproofing the High Bridge, which carries the trail over the Youghiogheny River, and another bridge along the trail was sorely needed.
“To them, it’s not like community service. It’s fun,” said Adelphoi caseworker Joan Bochnak.
The Fayette County Juvenile Probation Office referred the students to Adelphoi. The kids have been adjudicated as delinquents and are required to perform community service.
If they were not working at the park, they would be working on the “litter brigade” to fulfill their community service. Time in the litter brigade is spent picking up litter from along state roads under the direction of Department of Transportation.
“It’s better than doing litter brigade,” 15-year-old Brian Tate said.
“Adelphoi is always looking for some type of community service and ways to give back to the community,” caseworker Tracey Kuchar said.
“It’s all right,” Dustyn Grogar said in bravado. “Better than litter.”
“It’s not the same thing all the time. They get to build things. Litter brigade is kind of monotonous,” Bochnak said. “They don’t view it as punishment. They view it as a way to give back to the community in a fun way.”
“They’re getting an education as well,” Baker said.
Park staff and Adelphoi are trying to expand the program so groups of kids can work at the park every summer, he said. Adelphoi staff would be trained to oversee the work without supervision from park staff. The students might also monitor the nesting boxes.
He said Adelphoi approached the park with a proposal about the program.
The program is called Blazing New Trails and is funded through the state’s Rails to Trials program, which converts abandoned railroad right of ways into hiking and biking trials.
Blazing New Trials awarded Adelphoi an $11,306 grant for materials and expenses.
“With the way things are, none of this would probably get done,” said park maintenance worker Randy Conn, who oversees the kids. “It helps us out a lot. We have such a big park. We have 20,000 acres. The pavilions are nice. People on the trail stop and thank them. Two and half million people come through the park every year, and I’ll bet half come through the trail.”
He said working with the kids on the trail beats the routine work he would otherwise have to do.
“The trail is a nice place for them. It gives them something to do. They seem to enjoy themselves,” Conn said.