Gabby Zawacki is Back as a Seasonal EPCAMR Trail Marker!! This Time with some Spray Paint and a Backpack over her Shoulders

EPCAMR is in the process of filling three  seasonal temporary outdoor field positions to assist one of our partners, the Earth Conservancy, with maintaining signage, clearing brush, spray painting existing trail markings of various levels of difficulty with different colored spray paint on several publicly accessible trails in the Wyoming Valley over the next month or two. Coordination will be provided by the EC and EPCAMR Staff at the trail locations as to the direction and pre-existing conditions of the low-impact trails and more heavily used vehicle trails.

Gabby Zawacki is one of those seasonal Trail Markers and former Community Outreach Relations Intern with EPCAMR last Fall through May of this year. She will throw on a backpack filled with spray paint and hike steep slopes, carry a backpack weighing up to 20 pounds of field supplies (backpacks, supplies, water, camera, and spray paint will be provided), walk several miles at a time, have an ability to read a topographic or aerial photographic map, have a familiarity with orienteering, not have any difficulties climbing or walking over rocks and outcrops along the trails, be familiar with poison ivy and poison oak, be able to navigate through picker bushes and multi-flora rose, Japanese knotweed, and other heavily wooded areas. Right now, she’ll be joined by Elizabeth Rosser, EPCAMR’s Watershed Outreach Specialist Intern, until we fill our third position. EPCAMR’s happy to have her back to work with us for the remainder of the Summer.

EPCAMR’s newest Seasonal Trail Marker joins us to provide some maintenance on Earth Conservancy’s Trail Systems in the Wyoming Valley and Southern Wyoming Valley through the Summer of 2014.

EPCAMR wants our Seasonal Trail Markers to be very careful of the steep ridges, especially along the Mocanaqua Loop Trail and they should pay specific attention and use caution around wildlife habitats such as possible bear dens and snake areas. EPCAMR expects that pictures will be taken of the trail activities on a daily basis and of natural areas, scenic overlooks, and various points of interest or plants and wildlife along the trails. The EPCAMR Trail Markers will be wearing appropriate clothes and shoes/hiking boots and socks be worn for any trail hiking and will be prepared for quick changes in weather by bringing rain gear, if necessary.  Hydration and energy are also keys to successful hiking. The trails to be marked are as follows on maps that will be provided:

The Mocanaqua Loop Trails              

1. Emergency Access Route
2. Green Loop (8 miles)
3. Blue Loop (7 miles)
4. Brown Loop (6 miles)
5. Orange Loop (2 miles)

The Sugar Notch Trails 

1.         Ridgetop Trail (3.06 miles)

2.         Park Access Trail (0.64 miles)

The Penobscot Ridge Mountain Bike Trail (1.6 miles)

Trail Descriptions and links to the maps from the Earth Conservancy website  

( www.earthconservancy.org )

http://earthconservancy.org/html/mocanaqua_trails.html 

http://earthconservancy.org/Moc_Loop_Map.jpg (Mocanaqua Loop Trails Map)

http://earthconservancy.org/html/sugar_notch_trails.html

http://earthconservancy.org/Sugar_Notch_Map.jpg (Sugar Notch Trails Map)

http://earthconservancy.org/html/penobscot_bike_trail.html

http://earthconservancy.org/Penobscot_Map.jpg (Penobscot Ridge Mountain Bike Trail Map)