A water main near Franklintown ruptured early Saturday.  Despite multiple calls by FOGFLP members to City and County authorities, water gushed out for over 3 days.  Dead Run, normally quite low with the current lack of rain, was flowing full with chlorinated water that caused fish kills down stream.  See the article here: 

https://www.baltimorebrew.com/2019/09/13/water-main-break-causes-fish-kill-in-leakin-park/#comments  

This article, published in the New York Times on August 8, 2019 highlights EXACTLY  why we fight for every tree in Gwynns Falls Leakin Park!  

Read for yourself:  https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/09/climate/city-heat-islands.html  

Another related news story, this one from CNN, on the value of urban parks can be found here: https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/20/health/iyw-cities-losing-36-million-trees-how-to-help-trnd/index.html

A Civic Works summer crew cleared the steps where the Stream Trail meets Wetheredsville Road.  The steps were completely overgrown before.  Thanks team!

Three FOGFLP members removed the branches from the big beech tree that fell across the GFT on the Millrace last week.  Hikers can get by but bikers will have to dismount.  City Rec and Parks officials have been notified about this current status. Hopefully they will remove the tree sometime soon!

Special thanks to the Maryland Conservation Job Corps for their hearty efforts in working on the Contemplation Garden, and to FOGFLP board member Antonio Carpenter.  

The team cleared vines and overgrowth in the area that, under Antonio's direction, will become a contemplation park space.  The area has been worked on over two years and is now taking shape with the help of the CJC group.  The space is located near the Labyrinth in the Crimea Mansion area. 

Civic Works, a grant-funded organization based in Clifton Park, has two groups working in Leakin Park.   One group is working on the Franklintown loop trail, adding a new route, in the woods, parallel to the original trail that was destroyed along the Granite Pipeline construction.  The other group is working on the Windsor Hill Conservation trail.  Way to go teams!  

The Maryland Conservation Job Corps has several groups working in Leakin Park this summer. For the next four weeks, these high school students will work with a FOGFLP volunteer to improve trails, clear invasive species, and more.  Thank you MCJC crews, and thank you FOGLP volunteers George Farrant and Antonio Carpenter.

Volunteers from The Maryland Zoo in Baltimore & the National Aquarium came by Carrie Murray today to help remove litter and debris from the Dead Run Creek by Winans Meadow.   

A very muddy section of the upper Fort Trail two new sections of boardwalks that were created by two Eagle Scout projects in conjunction with FOGFLP and the Carrie Murray Nature Center.

In March of this year Trent Williams (Eagle Scout) sourced materials from Home Depot and FOGFLP to create four eight by 48" sections of boardwalk on the upper Fort Trail which had been a problem muddy spot all of last year.  The sections were built at the CMNC and transported to the site requiring eight to ten people. The area was so bad that another section of boardwalk had to be built. 

Then in May, the Mountain Club of Maryland together with FOGFLP sourced the materials and tools.  Colin Carr (the other Eagle Scout) organized a crew to help build three sections at the CMNC and these too were transported to the site by hand and were put in place.  Much more digging had to be done for the second section to be completed due to various wet streams running across the trail.  This trail is heavily used by hikers and school kids visiting the CMNC and is one of the main paths down to the Winans Meadow area from the both the Crimea and CMNC areas via the Ridge (Heide's) trail