Sunday, September 8, 2013

Iowa Outdoors Staff Ride with Friends of Shimek


Friends of Shimek working Wednesday August 21st  planned a ride on Friday morning 
with Mindy Kralicek and Clay Smith of DNR's Iowa Outdoors Magazine. Bonnie and Doug Moothart brought their reliable trail horse “Bud” for Clay to ride and Cory Craig brought her horse “Cash” for Mindy to ride. After a crash course in horsemanship from Ann Bennett and getting fitted out with helmets, both of them joined the group for a short ride along the trails out of the lower campground.    See photos below for a bit of that experience. To test to see if our horses were spooky---that must have been the reason—Clay got off Bud and then Clay clamored over into the vines by the trail and made photos as we rode by—repeatedly---lucky for us riders but maybe not for him---none of the horses spooked though they did take a good look at that strange sight—none said cheese but they might have said “treats?”
 
Mindy perches atop Cash while owner Cory Craig adjusts the stirrups.
 
DNR Photographer Clay Smith captures a shot of Ann Bennett adjusting Mindy's riding helmet to be sure it is well secured.
 
 
Down the trail we go with Clay photographing as he goes -- no small trick aboard your first horse. In front of him is Ann Bennett, then Mindy and leading the group, Marsha Achenbach, with Bonnie, Doug and Lora behind.  Photos by Lora.
 
 
All this adventuring with Friends of Shimek on our work day and out on the trails by 
Mindy and Clay has a purpose---they are working on a feature story about Shimek State Forest, with a bit about Friends of Shimek and an interview with John Byrd ---we don't know what all they will include—but we do know that Clay made hundreds of photos. Mindy said: We work about a year ahead of the publishing schedule. Look for the article in the July-Aug or Sept-Oct 2014 issue of Iowa Outdoors.
http://www.iowadnr.gov/portals/idnr/uploads/Iowa%20Outdoors%20Magazine/SeptOct%202013%20update/smallcoverpromos.jpgIn case you have not seen it before---Iowa Outdoors is a bimonthly publication whose editorial mission is We strive to open the door to the beauty and uniqueness of Iowa's natural resources, inspire people to get outside and experience Iowa and to motivate outdoor-minded citizens to understand and care for our natural resources.
 
It costs $15 for a one year subscription. 
 
See the website for a listing of articles in the most recent issue and some sample articles and photos from earlier issues.

August 21, 2013 Work Day Report

August 21 Work Day Report

 
There were 13 volunteers and John Byrd, Shimek Forester,  hard at work on August 21st. 
They were Bob & Marsha Achenbach, Ann Bennett, Ringo & Brenda Covert, Bonnie & Doug Moothart, Art & Judy Duke, Ray & Lora Conrad, Bob Bender and April Leahy. We put in a total of 88.5 hours of which 12 were helping put out rock for the Hoaglin grant.    Photo below by Clay Smith, DNR Photographer.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Ann and April painted the new doors on the upper campground facilities as well as those areas where bare wood was showing.  Photo below by Clay Smioth shows Ann Bennett hard at work painting. 
 
 
 
Ann with the help of April and Marsha collected, sorted and bagged for recycle quite a pile of Iowa deposit cans and bottles. Some were collected along the trails; some were recycled in the bins at camp, and others were brought by participants for the recycle fund-raiser.
 
Marsha spent much of the morning trimming back multi-flora and overhanging limbs along a trail section. Bob and Bob took Bob Bender's 4-wheeler and the Covert's took their 4-wheeler and removed downed trees on Marsha's list. In addition Marsha cleaned up around camp at the upper campground and Judy cleaned up and picked up cans around the lower campground.
 
Doug and Bonnie helped John put out the Hoaglin grant rock. The photo below by Bonnie shows Doug loading the dump truck with rock which they then drove out to the trail where John was preparing the trail for the rock.
 
 
 
The photo of the dump truck is by Clay Smith and shows Bonnie and Doug dumping rock along the trail as John looks on.
 
Photo below shows Lora hauling a load of hay and manure to the dump bunker. Photo by Clay Smith.
Art, Judy, and Lora raked around the hitching rails in the lower campground to clean up the hay, manure and leaves, then Ray put lime chips around each with his tractor and they raked this as smooth as possible, given the lumpy condition of the lime chips. After lunch, Ray and John put out lime chips around the rest of the hitching rails at the lower campground with the raking done by Bob Bender, Marsha and Bob Achenbach and Lora to finish putting lime chips around all hitching posts, both campgrounds, except 1.5 at the lower campground (we ran out of lime chips).
 
John and Ray then hauled lime chips and Bob, Marsha, Bob Bender and Lora all raked at the upper campground, getting chips around all that did not have any there and refurbishing several.
 
Thanks to John Byrd for organizing the work, making assignments, bringing water, tools, and paint and sticking in there with us the entire day----scooting all around on the skidsteer and hitting only one post. John not only directed our efforts but operated the skidsteer working on trails and spreading rock in the morning and after lunch used it to help Ray spread lime chips.
 
Thanks to DNR employees Jerry and Heath for making new doors to replace the two that were rotten on the restroom facilities at the Upper Campground. Thanks too to Cathy and Dean Weber who came before the group work day and pressure washed the facilities in the upper campground, preparing them for painting.
 
We were pleased to have Mindy Kralicek and Clay Smith with DNR's Iowa Outdoors magazine to join us to make photographs and interview us as part of the research and preparation they are doing for an article in Iowa Outdoors. Clay, who is a professional photographer, shared some photos with us for this issue. Thank you, Clay.
 
Come join the “fun” on our next scheduled work day – October 19th – Saturday---8:30 AM ---at the Lower Campground. We just might be finishing up a new horse shelter that day---so stay tuned for more details.